Low turnout in Togo municipal polls after deadly protests
Polling stations in Togo's capital Lome were largely deserted on Thursday. The low turnout came after June's protests against constitutional reforms that could keep leader Faure Gnassingbe in power indefinitely.
Rights groups blamed the police for the deaths of seven marchers in the protests, whose bodies had been fished out from the capital's rivers by activists.
'People are … afraid of being attacked by protesters for legitimising these elections, or afraid of being dispersed by security forces,' Edem Adjaklo, a voter in the Gakli neighbourhood, told The Associated Press news agency.
'They feel it's pointless to vote because the results are always the same – predetermined.'
The sense of unease in Lome was reportedly heightened by a heavy police and military presence at major intersections.
Despite a call for demonstrations against Gnassingbe, the streets of the seaside capital were quiet on Thursday.
Gnassingbe has ruled the country since 2005, after the death of his father and predecessor as president, Gnassingbe Eyadema.
The constitutional reforms, approved by a parliament dominated by Gnassingbe's Union pour le Republic (UNIR) party, swapped the presidential system in the country for a parliamentary one.
Under the reforms, Gnassingbe was sworn in two months ago as president of the Council of Ministers – effectively as prime minister – a role with no official term limits, which would allow him to be re-elected indefinitely.
Critics called it a 'constitutional coup'.
Diaspora-based social media influencers and civil society groups had called for a boycott of the elections, the first national vote organised since the constitutional reform.
This year's bout of protests was triggered after popular rapper and TikToker Tchala Essowe Narcisse, popularly known as Aamron, was arrested for publishing a video where he called for protests to mark the president's June 6 birthday.
Anger had also been simmering over the state of the economy, widespread unemployment and the repression of government critics.
Public demonstrations have been banned in the country since protests between 2017 and 2018, which saw thousands of protesters taking to the streets in demonstrations tagged 'Faure Must Go' and 'Togo stands up'.
Although officially a democracy, Togo operates in practice as a militarised state, with the army heavily involved in politics.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
G20 finance ministers reach consensus on key economic issues
The finance ministers of the Group of 20 have finally reached a consensus following meetings in South Africa, emphasising that central banks must remain independent in reaction to months of attacks by United States President Donald Trump. In their final statement published on Friday, following two days of meetings in the coastal city of Durban, the grouping agreed on key challenges for the global economy, including ongoing wars and conflicts, trade disputes, supply chain disruptions, debt and natural disasters. The G20 finance ministers have met several times since the beginning of the year, but have been unable to agree on a joint statement at previous summits. 'Central banks are strongly committed to ensuring price stability, consistent with their respective mandates, and will continue to adjust their policies in a data-dependent manner,' the grouping said in Friday's joint declaration, their first communique since October. 'Central bank independence is crucial to achieving this goal,' read the statement, which was also signed by the US. Trump has for a long time been criticising the Federal Reserve – the central bank of the US – mainly over its decision on interest rates. His attacks have intensified during his second term in office, and have mainly targeted Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell, whom he has called a 'moron', 'numbskull', and 'stubborn mule'. Trump is unhappy with the central bank's decision to lower interest rates slower than he prefers in an effort to fight inflation. He has also strongly criticised Powell for his handling of a project to renovate the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, DC. The joint communique on Friday was reached in the absence of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, but Washington was represented by Michael Kaplan, acting undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs. Bessent had also missed the previous gathering of the finance ministers of the G20 in Cape Town in February, when the representatives had failed to reach a joint stance to the dismay of host country South Africa. Economic 'uncertainty', complex challenges The US is set to assume the G20's rotating presidency in December, but it reportedly plans to shift its approach to the multilateral institution, which it helped found in 1999. Three unnamed US sources cited by the Reuters news agency said on Friday that Washington plans to focus on the G20 leaders' summit and the financial meetings in November, eliminating other working groups and ministerial-level meetings, including those on energy, healthcare, commerce, and environment. The US has already withdrawn from co-chairing a working group on sustainable finance with China, and it remains unclear whether Trump will join the leaders' summit in South Africa. In its joint statement, the group also highlighted the global trade landscape that has increasingly been rocked by Trump's tariffs, as well as wars involving the US and its allies. 'The global economy is facing heightened uncertainty and complex challenges, including ongoing wars and conflicts, geopolitical and trade tensions,' it said. The G20 is made up of 19 nations, as well as the European Union and the African Union, and its members account for more than 80 percent of the world's economic output.
Al Jazeera
12 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
‘Good Trouble Lives On' protests across US against Trump policies
Demonstrations have taken place at more than 1,600 locations around the United States, in protest against President Donald Trump's controversial policies that include mass deportations of immigrants and refugees and cuts to medical insurance, as well as the removal of other safety nets for impoverished people. The 'Good Trouble Lives On' refrain that underscored the national day of action on Thursday was inspired by the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, who died in 2020 at the age of 80 following an advanced pancreatic cancer diagnosis. He was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, a group led by Martin Luther King Jr. In 1965, a 25-year-old Lewis led some 600 protesters in the Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Lewis was beaten by police, suffering a skull fracture. Organisers had called for peaceful protests to take place on the fifth anniversary of Lewis's death along streets, at courts and other public spaces in cities including Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles. 'We are navigating one of the most terrifying moments in our nation's history,' Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the nonprofit Public Citizen, said during an online news conference on Tuesday. 'We are all grappling with a rise of authoritarianism and lawlessness within our administration … as the rights, freedoms and expectations of our very democracy are being challenged.' Pushback against Trump so far in his second term has centred on deportations and immigration enforcement tactics, as well as access to healthcare. The administration has pushed third-party countries to accept deportees, and the African country of Eswatini has confirmed this week that it received five individuals deported from the US. The US also completed the deportations of eight men to South Sudan after a judge cleared the way for their transfer to the violence-hit African country. Trump's administration has also been actively targeting pro-Palestinian activists. Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student imprisoned for more than three months, this month filed a wrongful detention claim against Trump seeking $20m in damages. The so‑called 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' also prompted a backlash for slashing health coverage schemes, Medicare and Medicaid, by $930bn over the next decade. It could leave as many as 17 million Americans without insurance, in one of the steepest rollbacks of social welfare programmes in the US since their inception in 1935. Earlier this month, protesters engaged in a tense standoff as federal authorities conducted mass arrests at two Southern California marijuana farms. One farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof during a chaotic raid. Organisers of the June 14 'No Kings' demonstrations said millions of people marched in hundreds of events from New York to San Francisco. Demonstrators branded Trump as a dictator and would-be king for marking his birthday with a military parade.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Low turnout in Togo municipal polls after deadly protests
Togo has voted in municipal elections amid reports of voter apathy, after the country was rocked by deadly protests last month. Polling stations in Togo's capital Lome were largely deserted on Thursday. The low turnout came after June's protests against constitutional reforms that could keep leader Faure Gnassingbe in power indefinitely. Rights groups blamed the police for the deaths of seven marchers in the protests, whose bodies had been fished out from the capital's rivers by activists. 'People are … afraid of being attacked by protesters for legitimising these elections, or afraid of being dispersed by security forces,' Edem Adjaklo, a voter in the Gakli neighbourhood, told The Associated Press news agency. 'They feel it's pointless to vote because the results are always the same – predetermined.' The sense of unease in Lome was reportedly heightened by a heavy police and military presence at major intersections. Despite a call for demonstrations against Gnassingbe, the streets of the seaside capital were quiet on Thursday. Gnassingbe has ruled the country since 2005, after the death of his father and predecessor as president, Gnassingbe Eyadema. The constitutional reforms, approved by a parliament dominated by Gnassingbe's Union pour le Republic (UNIR) party, swapped the presidential system in the country for a parliamentary one. Under the reforms, Gnassingbe was sworn in two months ago as president of the Council of Ministers – effectively as prime minister – a role with no official term limits, which would allow him to be re-elected indefinitely. Critics called it a 'constitutional coup'. Diaspora-based social media influencers and civil society groups had called for a boycott of the elections, the first national vote organised since the constitutional reform. This year's bout of protests was triggered after popular rapper and TikToker Tchala Essowe Narcisse, popularly known as Aamron, was arrested for publishing a video where he called for protests to mark the president's June 6 birthday. Anger had also been simmering over the state of the economy, widespread unemployment and the repression of government critics. Public demonstrations have been banned in the country since protests between 2017 and 2018, which saw thousands of protesters taking to the streets in demonstrations tagged 'Faure Must Go' and 'Togo stands up'. Although officially a democracy, Togo operates in practice as a militarised state, with the army heavily involved in politics.
