Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe is running for a fourth term in an election on Saturday even some Togolese are sick of the long-running dynasty.
One such person is Farida Nabourema, 29, a pro-democracy activist who has organized protests calling for the president to step down. She is determined that her children should grow up under somebody other than a Gnassingbe, though she is realistic about the challenges.
“We don’t have high hopes that the opposition will be able to win,” said Nabourema, director of the democracy campaign group Togo Civil League. “We just hope there won’t be any more unnecessary bloodbath.”
Many people in Togo have only known just two presidents in their lifetime: Faure Gnassingbe and his father Eyadema Gnassingbe. Many voters who spoke to Reuters see little way out if Gnassingbe stays in power. “All of this is just comedy. How many times have we voted in this country and the results said something different?” said Espoir Gamado, a 45-year-old IT engineer. “I won’t be voting.”
Despite several attempts, the opposition has not formed a united front, and some experts believe Gnassingbe could win in the first round, without having to go to a run-off vote next month.
“Thanks to God, I think the victory is assured,” he told supporters last week in the northern opposition stronghold of Sokode as a crowd cheered and soldiers looked on.
The opposition is weakened by division and Gnassingbe is seen by political analysts as a shoo-in to win, despite widespread demonstrations against his rule in 2005 and 2017 in which hundreds died during clashes with police.