At stake in this election:

• 91 seats in the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Faure GNASSINGBÉ
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Kwesi AHOOMEY-ZUNI
• Assembly: Togo has a unicameral National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) with 91 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 5-year term.
• Prime Minister is appointed by the President.
• In the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) 91 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms.***

*** There are 30 multi-member constituencies. The Grand Lome constituency elects 10 members, 3 constituencies elect 4 members each, 17 constituencies elect 3 members each, and 9 constituencies elect 2 members.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Union for the Republic / Union pour la République (UNIR)*
  • Leader: Faure GNASSINGBÉ
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Union of Forces of Change / Union des Forces de Changement (UFC)
  • Leader: Gilchrist OLYMPIO
  • Seats won in last election: 27
• Coalition: Rainbow Coalition / Coalition Arc-en-Ciel***
  • Leader: Brigitte Adjamagbo JOHNSON
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Patriotic Pan-African Convergence / Convergence Patriotique Panafricaine (CPP)
  • Leader: Edem KODJO
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Coalition: Save Togo Group / Collectif Sauvons le Togo (CST)*****
  • Leader: Ata Messan Zeus AJAVON
  • Seats won in last election: N/A

* The Union for the Republic is the party created by Faure Gnassingbé to replace the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), which was the ruling party of Togo. In the 2007 Parliamentary elections, the RPT won 50 seats in the National Assembly.
*** Members of the Coalition Arc-en-Ciel include the Action Committee for Renewal / Comité d’Action pour le Renouveau (CAR), the Democratic Convention of African Peoples / Convention Démocratique des Peuples Africains (CDPA), the Union of Socialist Democrats / l’Union des Démocrates Socialistes (UDS TOGO), the Pan-African Democratic Party / Parti Démocratique Panafricain (PDP), and the Citizen Movement for Democracy and Development / Mouvement Citoyen pour la Démocratie et le Développement (MCD). The Action Committe for Renewal won 4 seats in the last Parliamentary election.
***** Members of the coalition include the Alliance of Democrats for Integral Development / Alliance des Démocrates pour le Développement Intégral (ADDI), the National Alliance for Change / Alliance Nationale pour le Changement (ANC), the Organization for Building a Solidarity Union in Togo / Organisation pour Bâtir dans l’Union un Togo Solidaire (OBUTS), the Socialist Pact for Renewal / Pacte Socialiste pour le Renouveau (PSR), and the Workers Party / Parti des Travailleurs (PT).

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 6,928,719 (2013)
• Registered Voters: 3,044,332 (July 2013)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 3,509,332 (2013)

·         Is Togo a signatory to CEDAW: No 

·         Has Togo ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (26 September 1983)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 14 (following the 2013 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 162

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium

Disability Data:

·         Is Togo a signatory to CRPD: Yes (23 September 2008)

·         Has Togo ratified CRPD: Yes (1 March 2011)

·         Population with a disability: 1,039,307 (est.)