Togo’s Legislative Elections are underway, with Polls opening ahead of Contentious Proposed Changes.

Voters in Togo are expected to test support for a proposed new constitution that would abolish future presidential elections and give MPs the authority to choose the president instead. On Monday, voters in the country went to the polls to cast ballots in the parliamentary elections.

The opposition and the church claim President Faure Gnassingbe is trying to extend his authority through the legislation.

Legislators approved it in late March, and it is almost ready for implementation.

In the run-up to the election, authorities have clamped down on media and civic liberties.
The government outlawed protests against the proposed new constitution and the imprisonment of opposition leaders at the beginning of April.

A French journalist who traveled to Togo to cover the elections was detained, beaten, and banished in the middle of April.

Subsequently, Togo’s media regulator suspended the accreditation procedure for international journalists.

Additionally, the electoral commission forbade the Catholic Church from sending election observers to monitor the proceedings.

For the past fifty-seven years, Eyadema Gnassingbe and his son have been the ruling family of Togo.

Since 2005, Faure Gnassingbe has held office, having emerged victorious from elections that the opposition labeled fraudulent.

Gnassingbe’s tenure expires in 2025, and the opposition and clergy claim that the proposed new constitution, ratified by parliament in March after its mandate ended, increases the likelihood that he will be reelected.