The president, who serves as head of state and holds most executive power, is elected for five-year terms. Term limits were eliminated in 2002, then restored through a constitutional amendment in 2019; they did not apply retroactively, meaning Faure Gnassingbé could seek two additional terms. A runoff can be held if no candidate wins a first-round majority.

Gnassingbé—initially installed as president by the military in 2005 after his father’s death—secured a fourth term in 2020, ostensibly with 71 percent of the vote. Permits for domestic civil society groups to observe the polls were denied or revoked and representatives of the US-based National Democratic Institute were expelled before the election. A small number of observers from the African Union (AU) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were granted entry and produced largely uncritical reports. The runner-up, former prime minister Agbéyomé Kodjo, accused the government of using fake polling stations and stuffing ballot boxes. Kodjo and others were arrested for asserting that he was the legitimate president; he was later released and was living in exile at the end of 2023.

The president appoints the prime minister, who serves as head of government. Gnassingbé appointed Victoire Tomegah Dogbé as prime minister in September 2020.

The constitution calls for a bicameral legislature, but the Senate has never been established. Members of the 91-seat National Assembly, which exercises all legislative powers, are elected for five-year terms through proportional representation in multimember districts.

In the 2018 elections, the main opposition parties led a boycott, citing several unmet demands regarding constitutional and electoral reform. Gnassingbé’s Union for the Republic (UNIR) won 59 seats. The Union of Forces for Change (UFC), which led the opposition before aligning itself with the government in 2010, won 7.

Elections are organized and supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), whose membership should be balanced with appointments by the ruling party and the opposition by law. However, only 2 of its 19 members were from the opposition during the 2020 election. CENI notably refused to publish detailed precinct-level results during that contest. The Constitutional Court, responsible for verifying election results, is stacked with close allies of Gnassingbé.

While the 2018 legislative elections were marred by a boycott, major opposition parties sought to compete in the December 2023 elections. In August, the opposition National Alliance for Change (ANC) objected to the fact that the timetable for legislative elections, along with regional elections originally due in 2021 but expected to be held concurrently with the legislative polls, had not been published. The ANC also raised concerns about the voter-registration process, which began in April and ended in June, including its failure to register some voters. In November, the government postponed the legislative and regional elections to early 2024.

Opposition parties are generally free to form and operate; candidates can also run as independents. However, the dominance of the UNIR undermines the visibility and competitiveness of other parties. Opposition members are sometimes arrested in connection with peaceful political activities.

Since 2017, authorities have suppressed opposition protests with deadly force and have arrested and tortured opposition supporters. The court system is used to sideline prominent opposition members.

Gnassingbé’s family has held the presidency since the 1960s. Gnassingbé and the UNIR have retained power thanks in large part to the structure of the electoral system, malapportionment, and de facto control over electoral institutions.

Many opposition leaders have sought exile or otherwise lived abroad. Genuine opposition parties had no legislative presence following their boycott of the 2018 elections. However, despite suffering from internal divisions, the ANC began to campaign again ahead of the 2023 elections, which were postponed to 2024. Parties that supported Kodjo in the 2020 presidential election formed a new coalition, the Dynamics for the Majority of the People (DMP), in April 2023.

In 2005, the military installed Gnassingbé as president, in violation of the constitution. While security forces defend the regime through intimidation, the UNIR has been accused of relying on patronage and financial incentives, including the distribution of benefits for vote-buying purposes.

The Éwé, Togo’s largest ethnic group, have historically been excluded from positions of influence; they are prominent within the opposition. Since 2010, the community has been politically split, as the Éwé-dominated UFC reached a power-sharing agreement with the government while the majority remained loyal to opposition forces. The government and security apparatus are dominated by members of Gnassingbé’s Kabyé ethnic group.

Women face some societal pressure that discourages their active and independent political participation. Only 16 percent of the National Assembly members elected in 2018 were women. In 2020, Victoire Tomegah Dogbé became the first woman to serve as prime minister.

The president holds most policymaking power. The UNIR-controlled National Assembly does not effectively check the executive. A pattern of flawed elections has undermined the legitimacy of both branches.

Corruption is a serious and long-standing problem. The government has adopted legislation ostensibly designed to reduce corruption, but these legal changes have not been effectively enforced, nor have high-ranking officials been convicted. Most members of the High Authority for the Prevention and Fight against Corruption and Related Offenses (HAPLUCIA) are presidential appointees, raising concerns about the body’s independence. HAPLUCIA cannot prosecute cases itself and must make referrals to the public prosecutor.

In January 2023, the Court of Auditors published a report disclosing irregularities in the management of funds intended to combat COVID-19.

A 2016 freedom-of-information law guarantees the right to access government information, though some information is exempted, and the government does not always respond to requests. Most public officials are not required to disclose their assets. There is a lack of transparency regarding state tenders.

In 2023 the government began to withhold information about attacks by Islamist militants in the north.

Freedom of the press is constitutionally guaranteed but inconsistently upheld in practice. Although numerous independent media outlets offer a variety of viewpoints, restrictive press laws and a history of impunity for those who commit crimes against journalists encourage self-censorship. Police have used violence and disrupted communications services to discourage press coverage of opposition protests. Togolese journalists have also been targeted by Pegasus spyware. There is no mechanism to appeal decisions made by the High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication, which can suspend outlets for violating broadly worded regulations.

In February 2023, two newspapers were suspended for three months, one for defaming Prime Minister Tomegah Dogbé in a 2022 article and the other for defaming the chief executive officer of the Bolloré Group. In March 2023, a Supreme Court chamber reversed the suspension against La Liberté, which published the article on Dogbé. Also in March, a court found L’Alternative director Ferdinand Ayité and editor in chief Isidore Kouwonou guilty of criminal insult and false news and sentenced them to three years in prison. Both men fled the country. In November, two journalists were arrested and held for over a week on charges of defaming government minister Kodjo Adedze, though they were bailed in December.

Religious freedom is constitutionally protected and generally respected in practice. Islam, Catholicism, and Protestant Christianity are recognized by the state; other groups must register as religious associations to receive similar benefits. The registration process has been subject to lengthy delays and a large backlog; no new applications have been accepted since 2013. Senior Catholic clergy are among the government critics who have reportedly been targeted with surveillance software.

Academics are generally able to engage in political discussions. However, security forces have repeatedly used violence and arrests to quell student protests. The government may have used spyware to target critical academics.

Though citizens engage in private discussion, they may be arrested on incitement or other charges for speaking critically about the government to journalists or human rights organizations.

A 2018 cybersecurity law criminalized publication of false information and breaches of public morality. The law also granted police greater authority to conduct electronic surveillance. In 2021, reporters identified 300 Togolese phone numbers belonging to civil society advocates and political opposition members as potential targets of Pegasus.

While the constitution provides for freedom of assembly, several laws allow for its restriction. Police periodically use deadly violence to disperse assemblies. A 2015 revision of the criminal code penalized participation in and organization of protests that had not gone through the necessary administrative procedures. In 2019, the parliament imposed new limits on the timing and location of public demonstrations and allowed authorities to restrict protests.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are subject to registration rules that have sometimes been enforced arbitrarily to suppress activism on sensitive topics, such as torture and LGBT+ rights. Several civil society leaders have been arrested and detained for their roles in the protest movement that began in 2017.

A decree requiring NGOs to align their activities to the government’s development priorities and to notify local officials of their activities went into effect in April 2023.

The government generally protects workers’ rights to form and join labor unions, though unions have fewer legal protections in the country’s special export-processing zone. Police at times forcibly disperse union gatherings.

The constitution provides for an independent judiciary, but in practice courts are heavily influenced by the presidency. The Constitutional Court is seen as partial to the UNIR. Judges on other courts are appointed by the executive based on the recommendations of a judicial council dominated by senior judges.

Executive influence and judicial corruption limit constitutional rights to a fair trial. Dozens of people arrested for participating in antigovernment protests in recent years have been charged, tried, and convicted in hasty proceedings. Detainees often have no access to counsel.

The police are corrupt, inefficient, and are known to engage in arbitrary arrest. The 2018 cybersecurity law contains vague terrorism and treason provisions with heavy prison sentences and grants additional powers to the police without adequate judicial oversight.

Prisons suffer from overcrowding and inadequate food and medical care, sometimes resulting in deaths among inmates from preventable or curable diseases. The government periodically releases prisoners to address overcrowding.

Security forces reportedly torture detainees despite laws that ban the practice in line with the UN Convention against Torture.

Islamist militants present a growing security threat, particularly in the north. In November 2023, Communications Minister Yawa Kouigan said that 31 people died in 21 terrorist incidents over the year to date.

Though ostensibly equal under the law, women continue to experience discrimination, and their opportunities for employment and education are limited. Official and societal discrimination persist against people with disabilities, certain regional and ethnic groups, and LGBT+ people, to whom antidiscrimination laws do not apply. Same-sex sexual activity is a criminal offense, and while the law is rarely enforced, LGBT+ people face police harassment.

The law provides for freedom of internal movement and foreign travel, but these rights are sometimes restricted by the authorities. Domestic travel can involve arbitrary traffic stops at which police collect bribes. The government imposed some movement restrictions in the Savanes region when it declared a state of emergency in 2022. The state of emergency has since been extended through March 2024.

An opaque regulatory environment has discouraged the emergence of a vibrant private sector. Women do not have equal inheritance rights under customary law, which is observed mainly in rural areas.

Customary law puts women at a disadvantage regarding matters such as widowhood, divorce, and child custody. Polygamy is widely practiced and legally recognized. Child marriage remains a problem in some regions. Rape is illegal but rarely reported and, if reported, often ignored by authorities. Domestic violence, which is widespread, is not specifically addressed by the law. Female genital mutilation, though illegal, is known to occur.

Protections against exploitative labor conditions, including rules on working hours, are poorly enforced, and much of the workforce is informally employed. Child labor is common in the agricultural sector and in certain urban trades; some children are subjected to forced labor. According to the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2023, the government investigated slightly more cases than in its last report, but convicted fewer traffickers.