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Bloomberg
Togolese president Faure Gnassingbe easily secured a fourth term in a February 22 vote, extending his family’s half century-long rule of the West African nation.
Gnassingbe won 72% of the vote, the president of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Tchambakou Ayassor, said on Monday. Opposition candidate Agbeyome Kodjo, a former prime minister, received 18%. Voter turnout was 76% of the more than 3.6 million registered voters.
Gnassingbe said after casting his ballot that he was pleased with the turnout and thanked voters for their support.
Gnassingbe, 53, has ruled Togo since the 2005 death in office of his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, who seized power in a 1967 military coup. His efforts to turn the country into an economic and logistics hub have paid off. Pan-African lender Ecobank Transnational has its headquarters in the capital, Lome. The economy grew by 4.9% last year, according to the World Bank.
Still, most of the about 8 million Togolese live in poverty.
In May, lawmakers unanimously approved constitutional changes that enabled Gnassingbe to stay in power until 2030.