Togo: Polls go smoothly, opposition fears rigging

  1. Posted on Friday 5 March 2010 - 09:30
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    Nangayi Guyson, AfricaNews reporter in Kampala, Uganda
    Togo's polls closed smoothly but with great fears from opposition that incumbent President Faure Gnassingbé may seek to rig the results in a presidential election that is widely viewed as a test of democracy for that country. Voters now wait with bated breath for the election results to be declared in 48 hours.
    Togo election
    However, Polls opened at 7 am local time on Thursday with hundreds of voters lining up at polling stations in the Togolese capital of Lomé and voting in the early hours was calm with more than three million citizens expected to choose between seven candidates, including incumbent President Faure Gnassingbé -- son of Togo’s late dictator, General Gnassingbé Eyadema, who ruled Togo for 38 years.

    According to news reports, Togolese opposition politicians however, have voiced concerns of fraud.

    “Everything that we asked for, all our demands to ensure a transparent election, were refused,” opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre said. “I have no confidence in the independent electoral commission. If the elections are contestable, we will dispute them. We are a political party and have the right to contest the poll.”

    The ruling party has, however, maintained that the country’s electoral system was formed under agreements that reflect Togo’s diverse political landscape.

    “Whenever we had a problem organizing the election, it was resolved through a consensus,” the Togolese minister for planning and development, Gilbert Bawara, said.

    The sudden death of Togo’s former strongman, General Eyadema, in February 2005 saw Faure Gnassingbé put in power by the army, before he went on to win the marred elections that were hastily arranged in the wake of his father’s death.

    This troubled history leads experts and observers to doubt that a fair outcome is possible for the new polls.

    "Faure Gnassingbé ... might present himself as a builder of modern times, but one fears that the presidential elections will not be very democratic,” Camara says.

    The country remains deeply divided by Eyadema’s reign. His son has sought to make big changes in government, including replacing old loyalists with a new guard. He also nominated a leading opposition figure, Yawovi Agboyibo, to head a unity government. Today, Agboyibo is among his election opponents.

    “It is true that efforts have been made,” said Albert Bourgi, an African specialist.

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