Togolese authorities have reopened their borders after they were shut to allow for April 29 legislative elections to be held in the country.
The borders were sealed from midnight of Monday to midnight of Tuesday as Togolese citizens went to the polls to elect 113 parliamentarians alongside 179 regional deputies and municipal councilors, with the task of electing a newly established senate.
Monday’s elections followed recent constitutional reforms in the country, switching from a presidential to a parliamentary system, which the country’s opposition parties alleged was a move to extend the mandate of President Faure Gnassingbe, 57, who has been in power since 2005 after succeeding his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who himself ruled for nearly 40 years.
This claim was refuted by Gnassingbe’s ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party, saying the amendment rather aimed to enhance representation
Under the new constitution, the President’s role transitions into a largely ceremonial position, elected by parliament and not the populace, for a four-year term and with no clear term limits to stay in office.
Without the recent constitutional changes, Mr Gnassingbe would have been limited to one more presidential term (of five years) in 2025.
Some people at the Ghana’s side of the Ghana-Togo Border at Aflao the Ghana News Agency (GNA) spoke to said they were stranded by the closure as they least expected it.
They noted that during the country’s last election (presidential election in 2020), the borders were left open thus, the assumption it would be the same in Monday’s legislative elections.
Meanwhile, results of the process with some 4.2 million expected registered voters from more than 14,200 polling stations across the country are yet to be declared.
