Sex a "weapon of the battle"   Play video

Opposition parties in Togo are calling on women to withhold sex for one week to protest President Faure Gnassingbe.

Isabelle Ameganvi, leader of the group Let's Save Togo, told BBC that for women, sex can be a "weapon of the battle."

Let's Save Togo is comprised of nine civil society groups and seven opposition parties in the West African country. They oppose new electoral reforms, which they say will keep Gnassingbe in power come the October elections.

The goal of the sex strike is to motivate the sexually deprived men to get involved in the political movement to end unlimited presidential terms.

Gnassingbe's family has held Togo for more than four decades. Faure Gnassingbe's father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, ruled for 38 years. When he died in 2005, the military installed his son as president. He almost immediately stepped down to run in an election, which he won, but his critics allege the vote was rigged. He was re-elected in 2010.

"If men refuse to hear our cries we will hold another demonstration that will be more powerful than a sex strike," said Ameganvi, "Like fasting."

Liberian women used a sex strike in 2003 to campaign for peace.