The ruling party of Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe, Union pour la République (UNIR), has won the most recent parliamentary elections on April 29. According to provisional final results, the party won an overwhelming majority with 108 out of 113 seats. The adoption of a controversial constitutional reform last month now ensures that Gnassingbe will continue to rule after his current term as president ends next year. Election officials said turnout was 61 percent.

The Togolese opposition says it must now “reinvent itself”. It won only five seats and claimed massive fraud. It had hoped to make a strong showing in the elections, particularly because of the controversial constitutional reform that will allow President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his nearly two- decade rule.

Under the new constitution, the Togolese head of state can now assume the new role of president of the Council of Ministers, a kind of prime minister. It is automatically held by the leader of the majority party in parliament, which is now Gnassingbe. The new post of president, on the other hand, has only a representative function.

In 2018, the opposition parties boycotted the last parliamentary elections, alleging irregularities. In the current elections, they tried to mobilize their own supporters to reverse the controversial constitutional reform, but apparently failed. Nathaniel Olympio, leader of the opposition Parti des Togolais (PT), spoke of an "electoral masquerade" and called on the opposition to "refocus its struggle".

The provisional results, which still have to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court, mean victory for Gnassingbe, who has been in power since 2005 after succeeding his father, who ruled for almost four decades.

Observers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and the International Organization of La Francophonie were satisfied with the course of the parliamentary elections.