by Nurat Uthman
The Economic Community of West African States has dispatched 40 observers to oversee the legislative and regional elections in Togo scheduled for April 29, 2024.
The regional bloc announced this in a statement on Sunday.
Led by former Gambian Vice-President Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, the observers include ambassadors, representatives from ECOWAS institutions, civil society members, media professionals, and election specialists from West Africa.
The deployment is aligned with ECOWAS’ commitment to supporting member states in conducting their elections, as outlined in Article 12 of the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.
The mission follows the recommendations of a pre-election fact-finding mission conducted from April 15 to 20, 2024, to evaluate the electoral preparations in Togo.
“The President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, Dr Omar Touray, has deployed an Election Observation Mission of 40 observers to Togo to monitor the legislative and regional elections scheduled for 29 April 2024.
This mission is in line with 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 led by the former Vice-President of The Gambia, Mrs Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang.
“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,” the statement read in part.
Throughout their stay, the observers will engage with key stakeholders in the electoral process and closely monitor the voting procedures.
In March 2024, the Chief of Staff to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, was appointed to lead a 120-member ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Senegal’s presidential election held on March 24, 2024.
In June 2023, the ECOWAS Commission deployed 95 election observers to observe the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone.
