why Faure Gnassingbé emerges stronger from the legislative elections? | EUROtoday
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Lhe outcomes of the double poll of April 29, 2024 in Togo at the moment are recognized. The Independent National Electoral Commission (Ceni) introduced the provisional outcomes of the legislative and regional elections giving the Union for the Republic (Unir) get together the clear winner, the get together in energy since 2005. This ought to permit the present president and head of the get together to stay in energy beneath the brand new Constitution, adopted in April.
In the legislative elections, the get together got here away with a rating of 95.57% of the votes, or 108 seats in Parliament, in comparison with 5 for your complete opposition. Participation was 61%. “These elections took place in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Code in its articles 201 and 234, which provide respectively that the deputies are elected by suffrage from blocked lists with representation proportional to the highest average, and the regional councilors are elected by suffrage from blocked lists to representation proportional to the strongest remainder,” recalled Dago Yabré, the president of the establishment accountable for elections. Thus, within the regional elections, Faure Gnassingbé's get together additionally received with a rating of 137 regional councilors elected out of 179. These outcomes, which have but to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court, represent a triumph for the president's get together.
An election marred by “irregularity”?
While the double vote happened peacefully, the opposition which participated in these elections denounces quite a few irregularities. This is the case, for instance, of Jean-Joël Kissi who raises a technical downside in his constituency. “In polling station B, there is the ballot paper which is normal. In polling station A, there is the ballot, but there is no my logo. I am not on the list and in the same prefecture,” he lamented, describing this act as “quite serious” for an election. He additionally denounces, like a variety of members of the opposition, poll stuffing. “It’s terrible what happened. People go to the polling stations, they are given 3 or 4 ballots at the same time, when the delegates protest, they are told that they do not have the right to speak,” the ex is indignant. -MP and former member of the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR). “What’s scary isn’t the fraud through the windows. The person comes and says he wants to put the ballots in the box because they are the ones running the polling stations. »
According to the coordinator of the Dynamics for the Majority of the People, votes by derogation have seen a jump that raises questions. “People were transported from the interior of the country to come and vote by derogation in Lomé, even though they did not meet the conditions,” declared Brigitte Adjamagbo Johnson, affirming that one of many delegates who needed to protest in opposition to the observe did not be dropped at the police station. “There was a lot of ballot stuffing everywhere. And we ourselves in the gulf and more precisely around the Aflao Gakli center, we tracked down this jamming maneuver. We wanted to replace an urn to introduce another stuffed one and we posted people who ultimately prevented the maneuver,” testifies Brigitte Adjamagbo Johnson.
At the extent of the Democratic Forces for Renewal, we deplore the identical state of affairs of poll stuffing. According to Me Dodji Apévon, already at 6:30 a.m., when the polling stations weren’t but open, the delegate of his get together famous that the poll field was 2/3 full. The clarification: it was the village chief who approved these early votes as a result of the residents needed to go to their fields as quickly as potential. They subsequently voted within the absence of any witnesses.
Soviet rating and tailored Constitution
For the bulk in energy, the meteoric breakthrough of the Unite get together will not be the results of probability. She invitations those that consider that there was fraud to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court. “Even in Lomé, Unir scored the best score in its history. Does this mean that Lomé, which was perceived for a long time as the stronghold of the opposition, also experienced fraud? » asks Pascal Bodjona, political advisor to Faure Gnassingbé. “I think that the result of the Unite party is due to the fruit of constant work, occupation of the ground and certainly that the populations were charmed by the actions of the deputies and regional councilors in the long term,” he mentioned. -he argued.
These “Soviet” scores additional strengthen the ability of Faure Gnassingbé, 57, who arrived on the high of the State in 2005 supported by the military and the leaders of the outdated regime. He succeeded his father Gnassingbé Eyadéma who held the nation with an iron fist for 38 years.
After 19 years in energy, the “young dean” as his counterparts name him is struggling to fulfill the minimal subsistence degree of the Togolese. With a inhabitants of 8 million inhabitants, 40% reside under the poverty line. The nation ranks 167 out of 189 within the UNDP human growth index.
On the evening of May 5, 2024, Faure Gnassingbé promulgated his new Constitution establishing the parliamentary system. Togo thus enters the Ve Republic. The head of state will not be elected by common suffrage. According to the texts, energy is now within the arms of the president of the council of ministers. The head of state is virtually divested of his powers in favor of the president of the Council of Ministers, who turns into the one who successfully directs the nation in its day by day administration.
In the nation, protests in opposition to the regime of Faure Gnassingbé are violently repressed by the military. Opponents are pressured into exile. His half-brother Kpatcha Gnassingbé has been in jail since 2009 for “attempted coup d’état”.
https://www.lepoint.fr/afrique/togo-pourquoi-faure-gnassingbe-sort-renforce-des-elections-legislatives-07-05-2024-2559703_3826.php