LOME, Togo: Togo’s ruling party won a parliamentary majority in April’s parliamentary election, the country’s electoral commission said Saturday, after critics of a divisive constitutional reform say it allows President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his time in power.
Gnassingbe’s Union Party for the Republic (UNIR) won 108 of the 113 seats in the new parliament, according to preliminary results announced by the National Electoral Commission.
Voter turnout was 61 percent, said Electoral Commission Chairman Dago Yabre, who announced the results on a national broadcast.
Under the new constitution, which lawmakers approved in April, Gnassingbe will now be able to take up the new post of head of the council of ministers, a prime minister-like role that is automatically assumed by the leader of the majority party in parliament.
Gnassingbe, who has been in power for nearly 20 years, succeeded his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled the small coastal West African nation between Benin and Ghana for nearly four decades.
Opposition parties denounced the constitutional reform as an “institutional coup” for creating a role tailored for Gnassingbe to avoid presidential term limits and extend his family’s political dynasty.
UNIR loyalists say the reform has made Togo’s democracy more representative.
Under the previous constitution, Gnassingbe could run for president once more in 2025.
Gnassingbe, 57, has already won four elections, although all have been labeled flawed by the opposition. The main opposition boycotted the last parliamentary elections in 2018, citing irregularities. This time, however, they rallied supporters to challenge UNIR’s dominance.
Under the new constitution, the president of Togo now becomes a largely ceremonial role elected by parliament, rather than the people, for a four-year term.
Togo’s shift from a presidential to a parliamentary system means that power now rests with a new prime minister, who will be the leader of the majority party in the new assembly.
For the opposition, this means that Gnassingbe will be able to remain in power without term limits if UNIR is the majority party in the national assembly.
Regional election observers said they were satisfied with the outcome of the April 29 election, which also saw votes for regional representatives who will help choose the composition of the senate, the newly formed second chamber.
Opposition parties have condemned some irregularities in legislative elections and others have challenged the constitutional reform as illegal in the court of the regional bloc Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.
However, opposition attempts to protest the new reform were also blocked by the authorities. Political gatherings have been banned in Togo since an attack on a large market in Lomé in which a military policeman was killed.
