Togo opened nationwide municipal elections on Thursday amid tight security and simmering anti‑government unrest, with more than 4.5 million voters eligible to choose 1,527 councilors across the country’s 117 municipalities.
Polling stations—12,541 in total—began taking ballots at 07:00 local time (0700 GMT) and will close at 16:00. Nineteen political parties, nine party coalitions and roughly 50 independent candidates are contesting seats, the Independent National Electoral Commission said. Campaigning ended Monday.
Interior Minister Col. Awate Hodabalo pledged “peaceful, transparent and credible” voting, announcing a temporary closure of land borders for the day. Observer missions from ECOWAS and the African Union are monitoring the vote.
These are the first local elections since a May constitutional overhaul shifted Togo from a presidential to a parliamentary republic. In the previous municipal contest, held in 2019, the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) secured about 60 percent of the vote.
The poll unfolds against a backdrop of weekly opposition rallies. The activist coalition M66 Movement urged fresh demonstrations on Wednesday and Thursday, demanding the resignation of long‑time leader Faure Gnassingbé, decrying rising living costs and denouncing reforms they say could entrench his rule indefinitely. Human‑rights groups say at least seven people were killed in clashes with security forces during protests in Lomé last month.