Parliamentary elections were held in

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

on 25 July 2013. The ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) won 62 of the 91 seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

Background

Some members of the opposition sought a postponement in order to see electoral reforms take effect prior to the elections, while others sought the repeal of the changes as improperly introduced. Amongst the latter was the controversial

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

of constituency borders in favour UNIR, led by President Faure Gnassingbé, and the 10-seat increase in the number of members of the National Assembly from 81 to 91. Although the government banned street demonstrations in commercial areas, citing an inability to maintain security and public order, protest organizers from opposition and

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

and denounced what they termed an attempt to stifle criticism. Protests organized by the Let's Save Togo Collective were planned for 21–23 August. On the first day, several thousand protesters commenced a march in

Lomé Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

's Bè neighbourhood and then headed to the commercial district of Deckon, where 100 police officers were deployed. Trouble then arose amid a dispute as to whether the protest march would end in Deckon for a rally or proceed further. The protesters were then dispersed using tear gas 10 minutes after the march commenced. The elections were originally scheduled for October 2012, but protests and strikes asking for electoral reforms delayed the process. After being rescheduled for 24 March 2013, they were postponed again, first to 21 July 2013, then to 25 July 2013.

Electoral system

The 91 members of the National Assembly were elected by

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in 30 multi-member constituencies.

Results

Initial results showed a landslide victory for UNIR, which was projected to win 60 out of 91 seats, with the remaining seats distributed among opposition parties. The opposition Union of Forces for Change suffered a defeat, losing most of their 27 seats. The

National Alliance for Change The National Alliance for Change (french: Alliance Nationale pour le Changement, abbreviated ANC) is a social-democratic party in Togo, led by Jean-Pierre Fabre. The party emerged from a split within the Union of Forces for Change (UFC) followin ...

(''Alliance national pour le changement'', ANC) was expected to become the largest opposition party.

Aftermath

When the National Assembly began its new term,

Dama Dramani Dama Dramani (born 1944List of candidates in Tchamba
CENI website (retrieved July 28, 200 ...

, a UNIR deputy, was elected as President of the National Assembly on 2 September 2013. Opposition deputies boycotted the vote as UNIR was unwilling to give them the posts of first and second vice-president in the Bureau of the National Assembly. Consequently UNIR deputies were elected to all of the 11 posts in the Bureau.Le Togo élit un nouveau président de l'Assemblée Nationale
AFP, 2 September 2013

References

External links

Togo Independent Electoral Commission
{{Togolese elections

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2013 elections in Africa 2013 in Togo

July 2013 events in Africa