Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe has won re-election with 72% of the vote, according to preliminary results from the electoral commission on Monday, extending his 15-year rule and a family dynasty that began when his father took power in a 1967 coup.
Despite widespread disaffection and protests calling for him to step down, a fractured opposition has struggled to launch a converted campaign to unseat Gnassingbe in the small West African country of 8 million people.
On Saturday Gnassingbe said if elected, he will continue reforms that have helped achieve annual economic growth of around 5% in recent years.
Even so, over half of the population lives in poverty, according to the African Development Bank.
Polling stations opened in Togo on Saturday for a presidential election expected to extend incumbent Faure Gnassingbe’s 15-year hold on power, and his family’s rule of more than half a century. https://t.co/RbDF93EfQZ pic.twitter.com/FfRaGheqO1
— Reuters Africa (@ReutersAfrica) February 22, 2020
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