By Olayiwola Balogun – The Head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Election Observation Mission for the parliamentary and regional elections in Togo has expressed her satisfaction with the smooth organisation of the double election following the opening of polling stations on Monday 29 April 2024.
The former Gambian Vice-President, Mrs Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, expressed her satisfaction after visiting several polling stations in Lomé, the Togolese capital, this morning. The polling stations were in the high schools of Ablogame, Agoe, Tokoin, 2 Fevrier, Kodjoviakope and Adidogome.
She praised the timely opening (7 a.m.) of most of the polling stations she visited, despite a slight delay in some of them. She also noted the peaceful and disciplined conduct of electoral procedures, the availability of electoral materials and the presence of polling station officials, political party delegates and election officials from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Mrs Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang was accompanied by the ECOWAS Permanent Representative in Togo, Bacar Banjai Barros, the representative of the ECOWAS Parliament, the Honourable Edwin Melvin Snowe Junior, the Acting Head of the Electoral Assistance Division of the ECOWAS Commission, Serigne Mamadou Ka, the Communications Officer of the ECOWAS Commission, Liberor Doscof Aho, and the Security Officer, Colonel Claude Djehoungo.
At the end of their tour of the polling stations, Mrs Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang and her team visited the ECOWAS Situation Room of the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission, which had been set up in a local hotel for this dual parliamentary and regional election.
In this room, a team led by Chinedu Chinedu Chukuemeka, Senior Programme Officer of the Network of Electoral Management Bodies in West Africa (RESAO), is in constant contact with the ECOWAS Observers deployed in the Greater Lomé Autonomous District and in the country’s five (5) regions: Maritime, Plateau, Central, Kara and Savane. Its mission is to monitor the progress of the double ballot in real-time, i.e. through a technical system set up to keep detailed track of voting operations on the ground.
Some 4.2 million Togolese are expected to go to the polls in over 14,000 polling stations to elect their new Members of Parliament and Regional Advisors.
Note that ECOWAS has deployed an Election Observation Mission of forty (40) Observers to Togo to monitor the country’s parliamentary and regional elections. This mission falls within the framework of the provisions of Article 12 of the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and constitutes support from the regional organisation to its Member States for the conduct of their elections.
The mission is made up of Ambassadors from Member States accredited to ECOWAS; representatives of the ECOWAS Court of Justice and Parliament; Civil Society Organisations; media professionals and election observation specialists from the West African region.
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