** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
The scenario unfolding in Togo is sickening to say the least: rushed
polls, usurpation of constitutional rights, political murders,you name
them. Let's hope that there is some light at the end of the tunnel in
that blighted country. People of good will in Africa need to invest in
vigilance. All it takes for evil to thrive in this is for good people
to do nothing. Never underestimate what one man's bold stand can do to
revolutionize the world.
PETER VAKUNTA
----- Original Message -----
From: e3ryarl <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, March 5, 2005 4:50 pm
Subject: Togo's Presidential Election
> ** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
>
> BBC NEWS: Friday, 4 March, 2005, 08:57 GMT
>
> Togo election set for next month
>
>
> Presidential polls will be held in Togo on 24 April, election
> officials say, after a month of turmoil following the death of
> President Gnassingbe Eyadema. Opposition parties have agreed to
> contest the poll despite rules which bar their main candidate from
> standing.
> However, Gilchrist Olympio's party says more time is needed to
> organise a "transparent and honest" election. The succession of
> Mr Eyadema's son, Faure Gnassingbe, to the presidency was widely
> condemned as a coup.
>
> After West Africa imposed sanctions, Mr Faure stepped down,
> agreeing to polls within 60 days as stipulated in the constitution.
>
> 'Regrettable'
>
> Mr Faure has said he intends to contest the polls as the candidate
> of the ruling party. "It's surrealistic. I don't think it's
> possible to organise a transparent and honest election in that
> period," said Jean Pierre Fabre, secretary general of Mr Olympio's
> Union of Forces for Change (UFC). "We are ready to participate in
> the election, but we are not we are not suicidal, we are going to
> remain vigilant," he added.
>
> Profile: Togo's vendetta victim
>
> But under the constitution, candidates need to have lived in Togo
> for 12 months to stand as a presidential candidate, which bars Mr
> Olympio from standing.
>
> Since a 1992 assassination attempt, Mr Olympio has lived in exile
> in Paris and was barred from taking part in the 2003 presidential
> elections because he did not live in Togo.
>
> Leopold Messan Gnininvi, the spokesman for the six-party
> opposition alliance, described as regrettable the disqualification
> of Mr Olympio.
>
> "We, his colleagues in the struggle for the restoration of
> democracy in Togo, will continue to show solidarity with Mr
> Olympio until we find a way of removing that prohibitive clause
> from the statute books," he said.
>
> Protesters
>
> On Wednesday, Mr Olympio told the BBC he would give his support to
> whoever his party nominated. "My 40-year struggle for the
> restoration of democracy in Togo is not a personal one. "I will
> give my support to a candidate to be nominated by the party," he
> told BBC Afrique.
>
> Mr Faure - who was president for three weeks following his
> father's death - will be standing as the ruling party's
> presidential candidate.
>
> After Mr Faure stood down, Ecowas lifted the sanctions it had
> imposed on Togo. Angry protesters had taken to the streets
> following the appointment of Abass Bonfoh as interim president
> last Friday after Mr Faure's resignation.
>
> They demanded the former parliamentary speaker Fambare Ouattara
> Natchaba take over as interim president, in accordance with
> constitutional procedures.
>
> Opposition parties are now expected to submit the names of their
> three representatives to serve on the newly created National
> Independent Electoral Commission.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, visit:
>
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/aam.html
>
> AAM Website: http://www.africanassociation.org
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, visit:
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/aam.html
AAM Website: http://www.africanassociation.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|