Voters in Togo took to the polls on Saturday to elect their new president. Outgoing leader Faure Gnassingbé is expected to win a third term, yet his main rival Jean Pierre Fabre has called for an end to his family’s rule of almost 50 years. Authorities have ruled out a repeat scenario similar to Nigeria and Burkina Faso, which saw long-serving governments swept away by the will of the people.
“Togo is not Nigeria or Burkina Faso,” government spokesperson Essodeina Petchezi told RFI on Saturday. “Our realities and our history are different.”
Yet the reality for many Togolese people in this west-African nation, has been much of the same.
Most of them have only ever known the family of incumbent president Faure Gnassingbé, who took over from his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, in 2005.
