Togo’s leading opposition party, the National Alliance for Change (ANC), has announced it will boycott the country’s first-ever Senate elections, scheduled for February 2. The vote is a crucial step towards implementing a new, controversial constitution that opponents argue is designed to allow President Faure Gnassingbe to maintain power indefinitely.
The upper house elections are part of a broader constitutional overhaul that abolishes the election of the head of state by universal suffrage and introduces a parliamentary system. However, critics, including opposition politicians and civil society groups, have denounced the reforms, accusing the government of undermining democracy.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the ANC expressed its firm opposition to the upcoming elections, citing previous instances of fraud and irregularities in the legislative and regional elections. The party emphasised that in the absence of guarantees for transparency and fairness, the senatorial elections would be nothing more than a new masquerade.
The ANC’s stance follows a similar rejection from the Togolese opposition coalition, Dynamique pour la Majorité du Peuple (DMP), which called the elections part of an ongoing constitutional coup d’état.
President Gnassingbe has been in power since 2005, succeeding his father, who ruled the small West African nation for 38 years. Efforts by the opposition to challenge the constitutional reforms have been largely suppressed, as political rallies have been banned in Togo since 2022.
