Togo incumbent president wins 3rd term

Togo’s incumbent President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe has won a third term in the West African country’s election, garnering 58.75 percent of the votes, the state’s electoral commission says.

“The national electoral commission states that … Gnassingbe has been elected based on provisional results which are subject to confirmation by the Constitutional Court,” the commission’s head Taffa Tabiou said late on Tuesday.

According to the commission, Gnassingbe’s main rival, Jean-Pierre Fabre, secured 34.95 percent of the votes in Saturday’s polls, in which some 3.5 million of the country’s seven million people had registered to vote.

Gnassingbe, 48, has been in power since the 2005 death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled the country for 38 years.

There are currently no term limits for a president in Togo. Last year, lawmakers considered a bill that would reintroduce term limits, but it was not passed.

Togo, which celebrated 55 years of independence on Monday, was previously administered by Germany then France.