Togo's presidential election

Nigerian Tribune, Wednesday, March 17, 2010

FAURE Gnassingbe's margin of victory in Togo's presidential election held on March 4 was decisive, but not embarrassingly crushing. He ran as the incumbent and some incumbents, especially in Africa, claim to have won more than 80 per cent of the vote. PRESIDENT Gnassingbe appears more sensible than many politicians. In a governorship election in Nigeria, the turnout was said to be more than 90 per cent in wet conditions and the incumbent won almost every vote of the more than two million reportedly cast!

PRESIDENT Gnassingbe won 60.92 per cent of the vote, almost double that of Jean-Pierre Fabre of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC) at 33.94 per cent.

MR. Fabre immediately cried fraud. He said he was the winner of the election and led his supporters to the streets to protest President Gnassingbe's victory. Many of the demonstrators dissolved into tears; their eyes were stung by a floating cloud of tear gas. A tear gas grenade landed at Mr. Fabre's feet; it was a grim greeting.

MR. Fabre said he was ready to die, but the police prevented him from leading his supporters on the second day of protest. The government had set up a special security unit before the election. The leader of the unit, Damhane Yark, did not try to hide the fact that his loyalties were to President Gnassingbe. "Some people from outside the country came to Togo to make trouble during the election. And they were paid by one of the country's opposition parties."

PRESIDENT Gnassingbe has strong military support. The army made him president after his father's sudden death in February 2005. His father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, seized power in 1967 in a military coup. He discarded his colonel's uniform and began to wear sharp suits. Mr. Eyadema was in dictatorial power for 38 years.

MR. Eyadema allowed multiparty elections in 1993 but he was never in danger of losing power. This was not because he was popular, but because state officials feared his power. The state-owned radio station praised him before beginning the broadcast of news.

HE routinely abused human rights, as an African Union - European Union panel had no hesitation in concluding after investigating allegations against him. He lauded Mr. Gilchrist Olympio whose father, the country's first president, was murdered in 1963. The younger Olympio was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt.

MR. Olympio was barred from running in the 2003 presidential election. A referendum held by Mr. Eyadema in 2002 had removed presidential term limits. Mr. Eyadema would have remained in office - and he was 'only' in his 60s - if he had not died.

THE installation of Faure Gnassingbe as president by the army after his father's death greatly offended most Togolese and the international community. Mr. Gnassingbe was forced to step down, a candidate in the election to choose his father's successor.

MR. Gnassingbe runs on the ticket of the Rally of the Togolese people. More than two million votes were cast in the April 24, 2005, election and Mr. Gnassingbe was said to have won 60.15 per cent of the ballot. His closest rival was Mr. Emmanuel Bob-Akitan of the Union of Forces for Change with 38.25 per cent of the votes. The declaration of Mr. Gnassingbe as the winner of the election led to violent street protests.

IT seems Mr. Gnassingbe has become more popular, though marginally so, since the last election in 2005. He won 60.92 per cent in the March 4 election compared to the 60.15 per cent he won in 2005.

DOES this show modesty or honesty? Modesty is not honesty, though both can be false. General Sani Abacha gave the impression of honesty when he signed the decree to punish top bank executives whose robbery led to the collapse of their banks, but he salted hundreds of millions of dollars away in foreign bank accounts, money that he stole from the Nigerian people.

INTERNATIONAL observers said the election was free and fair, but one of the defeated candidates said the wool had been expertly pulled over their eyes: "The vote was so expertly stolen by the ruling party that electoral observers will never understand what really happened."

MR. Fabre claimed that many of his supporters did not go out to vote because they were intimidated. But some of the same supporters were not afraid to confront the same security forces after the results of the election were announced.

THE election was probably free, but there is a question mark over the results. The satellite system that was used to transmit results from polling station was said to have crashed.

THE reality on the ground is that Mr. Gnassingbe will remain in power for the next five years. As term limits have been removed, he may remain in office for as long as he wants. He is a young man and has firmly checked the rivalry of his half brother.

THERE are presidential dynasties in three African countries - Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Togo. Egypt may be next. This bodes ill for democracy on the continent.