The people of British Togo voted to merge with the Gold Coast to form what would become present-day Ghana.

Polling station in Kumbungu, Northern Region, Ghana, during the Gold Coast general election of 1956

Source: The National Archives, OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Manchester Guardian reported on earlier developments leading up to a proposed plebiscite for British Togoland as follows:

“THREE CHOICES FOR TOGOLAND

Plebiscite Proposed

United Nations (N.Y.), October 30.

A United Nations mission which visited British Togoland to-day recommended a plebiscite in which the population of 416,000 people would decide between integration with the Gold Coast or temporary continuation under British trusteeship. The mission was set up after the British Government had announced that Togoland would cease to be a British trust territory when the Gold Coast attained its independence.

The mission said in its report that Togoland had naturally become closely aligned with the Gold Coast after forty years of joint administration. Two main views were put before the mission. The first favoured integrating Togoland under British administration with the Gold Coast when the latter became independent. The second favoured establishing the identity of Togoland under British administration as separate from the Gold Coast, as a preliminary to allowing the people to choose whether to federate with the Gold Coast, or to unite with an independent Togoland under French administration, with the territories thus unified to be federated eventually with the Gold Coast. All the major parties agreed that a plebiscite should be held to decide among these courses.

The British administration in Togoland and the Gold Coast Government both favoured the integration with the Gold Coast. If the people decided to separate from the Gold Coast, the question of their future would be bound up with that of French Togoland. The French administration itself planned some form of consultation with the people to find their wishes–Reuter.”

Source: ‘Three Choices for Togoland’, The Manchester Guardian, 31 Oct 1955