The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will send a “fact-finding mission” to Togo from 15 to 20 April in the run-up to the legislative and regional elections scheduled for 29 April, according to the president of its commission, Omar Alieu Touray.
The seven-member mission will be led by Maman Sambo Sidikou, former representative of the African Union in Mali and the Sahel.
“During its stay in Togo from 15 to 20 April, the mission will meet the main stakeholders in the electoral process, in particular the heads of State institutions and agencies, political parties, the electoral management body, civil society organisations, the media and partners.
The purpose of all these meetings is to enable the mission to conduct a “pre-election assessment.” However, the mission “will not be involved in any other process,” the regional body stressed.
The day before, on Monday, ECOWAS had reaffirmed the need to send an “exploratory mission” to Togo to interact with the main stakeholders in the electoral process underway in Lomé.
The elections, originally scheduled for 13 April, were postponed to 20 April and then to 29 April because of controversial constitutional reforms the government wanted to introduce.
These reforms, approved by the National Assembly, aim to change Togo’s political system from a presidential to a parliamentary model.
“In this crucial context, the ECOWAS Commission considered it necessary to send a fact-finding mission to Togo,” said Mr. Touray.
At the end of its visit, the mission “will submit its report and recommendations to the Chairman of the ECOWAS Commission so that he can take the appropriate decisions and measures, including the deployment of an electoral observation mission for the legislative and regional elections,” concluded Omar Alieu Touray.
DS/ac/lb/abj/APA