Togo has fixed April 15 as the date for a presidential election, a decree issued late on Tuesday stated, and incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe is expected to seek a third term in office in defiance of opposition calls for him to step aside.
The president’s ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) is due to hold a party convention on Wednesday during which it is expected to nominate Gnassingbe as its candidate for the polls.
The opposition, however, has called upon the government to implement an agreed presidential term limit under which he would not be allowed to stand for re-election.
Gnassingbe has not publicly stated whether he will seek another term in office.
He was installed as president with army support when his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled the West African country for 38 years, died in 2005. Faure Gnassingbe later stepped down under regional pressure, but won an election months later and was re-elected for a second term in 2010.
*Reported by Reuters/NAN
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