<< BACK Central and West Africa: Togo Background Since the early 1990s, efforts to create a broadly inclusive, multiparty political system in Togo have foundered against the intransigence of President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, the dominance of the ruling Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT), and an opposition that remains weak, divided and increasingly demoralized. In June 2003, Eyadéma was declared the winner of yet another five-year term of office, after breaking a highly publicized pledge to step down after 36 years in power. Opposition parties and non-governmental organizations claimed that massive rigging and fraud marred the polls. Africa's longest-serving dictator, Eyadéma rose to power in 1967, four years after assassinating the country's elected president, Sylvanus Olympio, in the first military coup d'état on the African continent. In December 2002, changes to the Togolese constitution permitted Eyadéma to seek another term, while simultaneously barring Olympio's son Gilchrist from running as the main opposition leader. The death of President Gnassingbé Eyadéma in February 2005 brought his 38-year rule to a sudden end and prompted his son Faure Gnassingbé to seize power with the help of the army. Sustained pressure from Togolese pro-democracy activists and the international community forced Faure Gnassingbé to step down to allow presidential elections. Despite Togo’s history of repression and flawed elections, these events provided an unprecedented opportunity for Togolese institutions, political parties and civil society organizations to expand political space and strengthen electoral processes in Togo. Unfortunately, efforts by Togolese pro-democracy activists and the international community to bring about a genuine democratic process in Togo met a stiff and violent resistance from the armed forces and militias linked to the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT), Togo’s ruling party. The election fell short of both the Togolese people’s aspirations and the hopes of Togo’s friends in the international community. In the unsettled aftermath of the civil unrest that followed the controversial proclamation of Faure Gnassingbé as the new President, political reform in Togo has become increasingly difficult. Yet, committed democrats exist within civil society and political parties, and continue to advocate for genuine democracy and good governance. Past Activities In December 2002, a three-person NDI assessment team visited Togo to meet with political parties, civic activists, and government officials. The delegation's findings confirmed that a legacy of mistrust among political leaders, and 35 years of uninterrupted supremacy by head of state Eyadéma, continued to constrain the political playing field in Togo. In this context, the delegation recommended that NDI conduct a political party-strengthening program to build the internal capacity of all interested political parties, provide coalition-building skills, and train political party poll watchers to monitor the presidential elections scheduled for June 2003. In February 2003, after running into political obstacles to implementing the proposed program in Togo, NDI invited a delegation of six Togolese political party representatives to observe a post-election political party roundtable in Benin. NDI also made available its political assessment report, which was subsequently reprinted in four independent Togolese newspapers. Additionally, the Institute distributed copies of its training manuals on election monitoring and quick-count election observation to all the major Togolese parties and several key civil society organizations. In late April, NDI implemented a poll watcher-training of trainers workshop in Benin for over 30 representatives from six Togolese opposition parties interested in observing the upcoming presidential election, and distributed 5000 poll-watching manuals to political parties and members of the electoral commission. The opposition parties' statements universally made reference to observations in polling stations across the country, by pollwatchers trained by the teams of trainers who participated in the NDI poll watcher training in Benin. From January 2003, the imposition by the Togolese government of conditions on NDI's presence and activities made it increasingly difficult to conduct political party capacity-building activities. NDI reluctantly concluded from meetings with Togolese government officials that training activities conducted during the pre-election period would potentially expose Togolese participants, as well as the Institute's own staff and trainers, to government harassment and intimidation. In mid-April of 2003, NDI closed down its operations and removed its field presence from Togo. However, the Institute remained committed to assisting Togolese democrats of all political persuasions in building democratic institutions and creating opportunities for dialogue. NDI continued monitoring Togo's political situation to determine possible future activities with political parties and pro-democracy activists. Recent Activities In the lead up to the April 2005 presidential election in Togo, NDI, the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), and the International Republican Institute (IRI) conducted a joint pre-election assessment to evaluate the prospects for a democratic transition in Togo, and inform the development and design of democracy support programming. An assessment report was produced short after, translated into French, and widely disseminated. NDI provided training in election observation to members of the diplomatic community in Togo. Fifty representatives of the international community participated in the training including the German Ambassador, the Chief of the European Union mission, the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme, and diplomats from Nigeria, Ghana, France, Benin, and the United States. Trainees learned about the role of international observers, during the pre-election and post-election phases, in addition to polling day activities Also in April 2005, NDI trained thirty-two poll-watcher trainers, representing all four parties or coalitions presenting a presidential candidate, including one representative from the RPT. After the training, the NDI continued to deliver training guides and polling day checklists to the political parties and civil society organizations that had requested them. The planed upcountry trainings were disrupted due to rising political tensions following the sudden resignation of the Interior Minister Francois Boko over the interim president’s refusal to postpone the election. However, NDI dispensed poll watcher training guide and checklists to the leaders of competing parties/coalitions including RPT in Kpalimé and Atakpamé. Despite the disruption of communications and media and intimidation by security forces and armed militia, Togolese political party pollwatchers and diplomatic observers documented serious flaws in the voter registration process, election administration and vote tabulation procedures. From March 20 to 24, 2005, NDI brought a core group of Togolese civic and political party activists to Cotonou, Benin, to learn from the experience of activists that have experienced or attempted a democratic transfer of power away from authoritarian or dominant-party regimes in the sub-region, and to apply those lessons to the situation in Togo. Forty-five Togolese activists participated in the program, with whom experts shared lessons learned from Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. After the workshop, NDI dispatched two civil society experts to Togo to monitor and advise the loose coalition of civic groups (known as the Collectif) formed by participants to the Cotonou training in implementing the action plan and activity outline for promoting a transparent election, they had developed in Cotonou. NDI’s experts helped the Collectif develop a communication strategy to effectively present these to a wider congress of activists for adoption. Forty-five civic groups and labor unions adopted the documents and agreed to work together within the framework of the Collectif. In November 2005 and March 2006, NDI sponsored study missions to Burkina Faso and Benin, respectively, for pro-democracy activists from the Collectif. The missions were strategically scheduled to coincide with the presidential elections in the host countries. The missions enabled Togolese civic leaders and journalists from independent media networks to learn how civic and media organizations in other countries implement election-related activities and deal with the challenges of advocacy in difficult environments. On March 7 and 8, 2006, NDI sponsored a strategic planning workshop for the 19 Togolese participants to the Benin study mission to discuss concrete steps on how to promote and advocate for genuine democracy and transparent elections in Togo as the country prepares for the upcoming legislative elections expected to take place in 2007. With technical advice from NDI’s experts, participants to the workshop designed and adopted a comprehensive framework for developing their strategic plan. Participants created a committee to oversee the development of the strategic plan upon their return to Togo. As for May 2006, the committee had organized three working meetings on the strategic plan, and was planning to conduct more sessions in Lomé and the regions. Contact Information For further information on our programs in Togo, please contact: Mohamed Dansoko, Program Officer Send Email Updated May 2006 << BACK