Togo
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Country in West Africa, on the Atlantic Ocean, bounded north by Burkina Faso, east by Benin, and west by Ghana.
Government
Togo has a presidential political system dominated by the ruling party, the Rally of the Togolese People. Other parties are allowed, but have little prospect of gaining power. The 1992 constitution, as amended in 2002, provides for a president, elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, and an 81-member national assembly, elected for five years by a majoritarian system involving a second run-off ballot, if needed. The president appoints the prime minister on the basis of assembly support. Other ministers are chosen by the president and prime minister jointly.History
Portuguese navigators visited Togo in the late 15th century and from the 17th century its coastal areas were raided by European slave traders. Called Togoland, the country was a German protectorate 1885–1914, when it was captured by Anglo-French forces. It was divided between Britain and France in 1922 under a League of Nations mandate and continued under United Nations trusteeship from 1946. In 1956 British Togoland voted for integration with Ghana, where it became Volta region in 1957.Independence
French Togoland voted to become an autonomous republic within the French union. The new Togolese republic achieved internal self-government in 1956 and full independence in 1960. Sylvanus Olympio, leader of the United Togolese party, became president in an unopposed election in April 1961. In January 1963 Olympio was killed in a military coup and his brother-in-law Nicolas Grunitzky, who had gone into exile, was recalled to become president.Establishment of one-part state
In January 1967 Grunitzky was, in turn, deposed in a bloodless military coup, led by Lt-Gen Etienne Eyadéma Gnassingbé. The new constitution was suspended and Eyadéma Gnassingbé assumed the presidency, banning all political activity. Six years later he founded a new party, the socialist, nationalist Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), and declared it the only legal political organization. Between 1967 and 1986 there were several attempts to overthrow him.Pressure to democratize
In the 1990s Eyadéma Gnassingbé came under pressure internally and from the international community to democratize. In 1991, in response to pressure from demonstrators, Eyadéma Gnassingbé announced the introduction of a multiparty system, legalized opposition parties, and freed political prisoners. In a pro-democracy conference in August 1991, Eyadéma Gnassingbé's presidential power was substantially reduced and an interim government was formed, headed by Premier Joseph Kokou Koffigoh.In October–November 1991, Eyadéma Gnassingbé's troops attempted to oust the interim government. They failed, but continued to seek to destabilize it and in August 1992 the Koffigoh administration agreed to return to President Eyadéma Gnassingbé much of the power they had taken away in 1991.
Disputed landslide election victory
A September 1992 referendum on a multiparty system attracted overwhelming support and a draft constitution was approved. President Eyadéma Gnassingbé won the country's first multiparty presidential election in August 1993, with 96% support, but the opposition alleged that there had been ballot-rigging. In January 1994 an attempt to oust him was foiled.A coalition of two opposition groups, the Action Committee for a Renewal (CAR) and the Togolese Union for Democracy (UTD), won a majority in the March 1994 assembly elections, with CAR winning the largest number of seats. President Eyadéma Gnassingbé disputed the result, refusing to nominate the CAR candidate as prime minister and preferring Edem Kodjo of the UTD instead. CAR rejected Kodjo's appointment and led a boycott of the national assembly until August 1995. After disagreeing with the president in August 1996, Kodjo resigned from the premiership and was replaced by Kwasi Klutse.
Human rights abuse allegations
Eyadéma Gnassingbé was re-elected president in June 1998, with 52% of the vote, but there were again claims of fraud by international observers. His government was criticized in 1999 by Amnesty International, the human-rights group, which claimed that the government was responsible for the murder of hundreds of its opponents, dumping their bodies in the sea, during the 1998 elections. The government denied the allegations.In 2002, the national assembly controversially changed the constitution to eliminate presidential term limits, to allow Eyadéma Gnassingbé to run for a third term in 2003. He ran and won the 2003 presidential election, capturing 57% of the vote. International observers described the elections as generally free and transparent, but Eyadéma Gnassingbé's main challenger, Gilchrist Olympio, was debarred from standing on a tax-law technicality.
Death of Eyadéma Gnassingbé
In February 2005, Eyadéma Gnassingbé died of a heart attack. Controversially, the military appointed his son, Faure Gnassingbé, as the new president for the remainder of his father's term (to 2008, although the constitution stated that the speaker of parliament should be president and new elections held. After international pressure, a presidential election was held in April 2005, which Faure Gnassingbé won, with 60% of the vote, although the opposition claimed that the vote had been rigged.In June 2005, President Faure Gnassingbé named opposition leader, Edem Kodjo, as prime minister. During 2006 the government held reconciliation talks with the opposition, which bore fruit in an August 2006 accord. The opposition parties agreed to participate in a transitional government, with Yawovi Agboyibo, of the opposition Action Committee for Renewal (CAR), becoming prime minister in September 2006.
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