LOME, Togo (AP) — Togo’s ruling party has won a majority of seats in the West African nation's parliament, the election commission said as it announced provisional results of last week's vote that was rejected by the opposition as part of a move to extend President Faure Gnassingbe’s tenure.
The provisional results late Saturday showed the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party won 108 out of 113 seats in the vote that tested support for a proposed new constitution that would scrap presidential elections and give lawmakers the power to choose the president.
The new constitutional provision provides for a presidential tenure of four years with a two-term limit. It makes it likely that 57-year-old Gnassingbe — in power since 2005 — would be reelected by the new parliament when his mandate expires in 2025, and could stay in power until 2033.
“The Togolese have spoken clearly in our favor,” Gilbert Bawara, a ruling party spokesman, told The Associated Press.
Both the opposition and religious leaders have called for protests after they rejected the legislation passed by lawmakers in March after their mandate expired.
The West African nation has been ruled by the same family for 57 years, initially by Eyadema Gnassingbe and then his son. Faure Gnassingbe took office after elections that the opposition described as a sham. The opposition says the proposed new constitution makes it likely that Gnassingbe will stay on when his mandate expires in 2025.
Nearly half of Togo's 8.8 million people were registered to vote in the election that had been previously postponed on at least two occasions amid controversies over the new legislation.
An opposition party spokesman, Eric Dupuy, told the AP there was no “real opposition” in the parliamentary vote. “What’s happening in Togo is akin to North Korea,” he said.
Analysts also raised concerns about that the election did not meet voters' expectations.
In some places like the capital of Lome, turnout was as low as 33% while it was up to 97% in the ruling party’s strongholds in the north.
FILE - Togo's President, Faure Gnassingbé, centre, looks on, prior to the start of the ECOWAS meeting, in Abuja, Nigeria, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. Togolese voters headed to the polls on Monday, April 29, 2024, to vote in the country's parliamentary elections that will test support for a proposed new constitution that would scrap future presidential elections and give lawmakers the power to choose the president instead. (AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan, File)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Benny Gantz, a popular centrist member of Israel’s three-member War Cabinet, threatened Saturday to resign from the government if it doesn't adopt a new plan in three weeks' time for the war in Gaza, a decision that would leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more reliant on far-right allies.
The announcement deepens a divide in Israel’s leadership more than seven months into a war in which Israel has yet to accomplish its stated goals of dismantling Hamas and returning scores of hostages abducted in the militant group's Oct. 7 attack.
Gantz spelled out a six-point plan that includes the return of hostages, ending Hamas' rule, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip and establishing an international administration of civilian affairs with American, European, Arab and Palestinian cooperation. The plan also supports efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and widen military service to all Israelis.
He gave a June 8 deadline.
“If you choose the path of fanatics and lead the entire nation to the abyss — we will be forced to quit the government,” he said.
Netanyahu in a statement reported by Israeli media responded by saying Gantz had chosen to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister instead of to Hamas, and called his conditions “euphemisms” for Israel's defeat.
Gantz, a longtime political rival of Netanyahu, joined his coalition and the War Cabinet in the early days of the war in a gesture at national unity.
His departure would leave Netanyahu even more beholden to far-right allies who take a hard line on negotiations over a cease-fire and hostage release, and who believe Israel should occupy Gaza and rebuild Jewish settlements there.
Gantz spoke days after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the third member of the War Cabinet, said he would not remain in his post if Israel elected to reoccupy Gaza. Gallant also called on the government to make plans for Palestinian administration of the enclave.
In what will be seen by many as a swipe at Netanyahu, Gantz said “personal and political considerations have begun to penetrate into the holy of holies of Israel’s security.” Netanyahu’s critics accuse the prime minister of seeking to prolong the war to avoid new elections, allegations he denies.
Polls suggest Netanyahu would be replaced in elections, with Gantz the most likely candidate to be the next prime minister. That would expose Netanyahu to prosecution on longstanding corruption charges.
“The people of Israel are watching you,” Gantz said in his prime-time address to Netanyahu.
Netanyahu is under growing pressure on multiple fronts. Hard-liners want the military offensive on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah to press ahead. Top ally the U.S. and others have warned against the offensive on a city where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million had sheltered — hundreds of thousands have now fled — and they have threatened to scale back support over Gaza’s humanitarian and hunger crisis.
The U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will be in Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend to discuss the war and is scheduled on Sunday to meet with Netanyahu, who has declared that Israel would “stand alone” if needed.
Many Israelis, anguished over the hostages and accusing Netanyahu of putting political interests ahead of all else, want a deal to stop the fighting and get them freed. There was fresh frustration Friday when the military said its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three hostages killed by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack. The discovery of the body of a fourth hostage was announced Saturday.
Thousands of Israelis again rallied Saturday evening to demand a deal along with new elections.
The latest talks in pursuit of a cease-fire in Gaza, mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, have brought little. A vision beyond the war is also uncertain.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, local health officials say.
Gantz echoed Netanyahu’s call for the return of hostages, ending Hamas’ rule and demilitarizing the territory. But he said an international administration should be set up there, apparently ruling out long-term Israeli occupation.
“We will not allow any outside power, friendly or hostile, to impose a Palestinian state on us," he added.
Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with local Palestinians who are not affiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But Netanyahu said it is impossible to plan for such a postwar authority before Hamas is defeated.
In March, Gantz met with U.S. officials in Washington to discuss the war, earning a rebuke from Netanyahu. He had been widely expected to leave the government once the heavy fighting in Gaza subsides, signaling the period of national unity established after the Oct. 7 attack has ended.
Krauss and Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
This image released by Maxar Technologies shows the overview of the new pier off Gaza and aid trucks on Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)
People protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel's wars and victims of attacks at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery Monday, May 13, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - Benny Gantz speaks at the announcement of former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot's election bid in Ramat Gan, Israel, on Aug. 14, 2022. Gantz, a centrist member of Israel’s three-member War Cabinet, threatened on Saturday, May 18, 2024, to resign from the government if it doesn't adopt a new plan in three weeks' time for the war in Gaza, a move that would leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more reliant on his far-right allies. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)
Israeli army tanks are seen in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A supporter of Palestinians in Gaza shouts slogans during a demonstration against the Israel-Hamas war, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
People take part in a Nakba 76 pro-Palestine demonstration and march in London, Saturday May 18, 2024, marking the mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948, referred to as the Nakba, and calling for an end to arming Israel. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP)
Demonstrators supporting Palestinians march during a rally to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Mourners, some armed, carry the body of Islam Khamaiseh draped in the Islamic Jihad militant group flag during his funeral in the West Bank Jenin refugee camp, Saturday, May 18, 2024. The Israeli military says Khamaiseh, killed by an airstrike in the West Bank on Friday, was responsible for two shooting attacks on civilians, including one in 2023 that killed an Israeli man nearby a West Bank settlement. The militant group Islamic Jihad said that Khamaiseh was a leader of the Jenin Brigade. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
This image provided by the U.S. Army shows trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates and the United States Agency for International Development cross the Trident Pier before arriving on the beach on the Gaza Strip Friday, May 17, 2024. Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip rolled across a newly built U.S. pier and into the besieged enclave for the first time Friday as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting hindered the delivery of food and other supplies. (Staff Sgt. Malcolm Cohens-Ashley/U.S. Army via AP)
