Presidential elections were held in Togo on 4 March 2010. Incumbent President Faure Gnassingbé—who won his first term in a presidential election that followed the death of his father, long-time President Gnassingbé Eyadema, in 2005—faced radical opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre, the Secretary-General of the Union of the Forces of Change (UFC), as well as several minor opposition candidates.
Following the democratization process of the early 1990s, which proved largely abortive, Eyadema and his ruling party, the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), successively won all presidential elections, although those elections were always extremely controversial: the opposition boycotted the 1993 presidential election altogether, and it claimed that Eyadema won the 1998 presidential election and the 2003 presidential election only through fraud. Eyadema died in 2005 and his son Faure Gnassingbé then ran as the RPT candidate; although he officially won the election, the opposition again disputed the result, and serious violence erupted.
Ahead of the 2010 election, the Togolese government took steps to increase the credibility of the electoral process and reassure the international community that the election would be free and fair. It placed a particular priority on avoiding the violence that marred the 2005 election. Gnassingbé stood for a second term as the candidate of the RPT, while the UFC designated Fabre as its candidate due to health problems suffered by its president, Gilchrist Olympio. Although the UFC was the largest opposition party by a large measure, and although the election was to be decided in a single round on a first past the post basis, the other opposition parties largely refused to rally behind Fabre and chose to nominate their own candidates.
Provisional results showed Gnassingbé winning the election with 61% of the vote, while Fabre trailed with 34%. The opposition again alleged fraud, denouncing the method by which the results were transmitted to the electoral commission, and subsequently held regular protests in Lomé. The results were confirmed by the Constitutional Court and Gnassingbé was sworn in for a second term on 3 May 2010.
Background
The election was conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI). The 17 members of CENI were sworn in on 1 September 2009; it was composed of five representatives of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), five representatives of the parliamentary opposition, three representatives of the extra-parliamentary opposition, three representatives of civil society, and one representative of the administration. Henri Kolani, a representative of the extra-parliamentary opposition, was then elected as President of CENI, but the parliamentary opposition objected to his election. At a press conference on 18 September 2009, Kolani announced an electoral schedule: preparations for the election would begin in October 2009, the official election campaign period would run from 13 to 26 February 2010, and the election would be held on 28 February 2010. He stressed that hard work was necessary to ensure that the election was held before the constitutional deadline. The parliamentary opposition ignored Kolani's announcement.
The controversy over the election of Kolani interfered with CENI's work, and as a result, Issifou Tabiou Taffa—a representative of civil society—was elected by consensus as President of CENI on 14 October 2009, resolving the controversy. Tabiou Taffa was not a member of any political party and was an obscure figure at the time of his election as CENI President. On that occasion, he stressed that CENI's work would be "collegial".
On 23 December 2009, the European Union announced a grant of six billion CFA francs (9.1 million euro) to Togo in order to facilitate the organization of "free, just, transparent and peaceful elections, in line with international standards" and to "strengthen the capacities" of CENI and the High Authority for the Audiovisual Sector and Communications for future elections.
As the election drew nearer, greater government activity and social spending was observed; infrastructure was built or improved and recruitment to the civil service was increased. Speaking on TVT on 30 December 2009, Pascal Bodjona, the Minister of State for Territorial Administration, said that the government was merely doing what was best for the people and that the government's work was unrelated to the election.
The EU committed to sending an additional five billion CFA francs at a meeting with the Togolese government on 22 January 2010, and it announced on 1 February that it would have 122 observers present for the election.
On 11 February 2010, the election was delayed from 28 February to 4 March at the request of the opposition. As a result of the delay, the campaign period was modified and set to run from 16 February to 2 March. CENI President Tabiou Taffa announced the official opening of the campaign, set to begin at midnight, on 15 February. In his statement, he said that revisions of the voter list had produced "a reliable voter list of 3,295,646 voters". He also urged the opposition representatives to return to CENI, which they had abandoned in protest.
The security forces voted on 1 March—three days before the general population—so that they would be available to maintain order on election day.
Candidates
Togo's main opposition party, the UFC, unanimously chose Olympio, its long-time leader, as its presidential candidate at the party's Second Ordinary Congress, held in Nyékonakpoé, Lomé on 18–19 July 2008. Some other early announced candidates were the minor opposition leader Dahuku Péré, who led the Democratic Alliance for the Fatherland, as well as Kofi Yamgnane, who held dual nationality and served in the government of France under François Mitterrand.
The Democratic Convention of African Peoples (CDPA) designated Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson, a member of its steering committee, as its presidential candidate in early January 2010. She was the first woman to stand as a presidential candidate in Togo. At a meeting of its National Council, with 350 delegates in attendance, the Pan-African Democratic Party (PDP), a minor party, invested the university professor Bassabi Kagbara as its presidential candidate on 9 January 2010.
Although RPT activists, both in Togo and abroad, called for President Faure Gnassingbé to run for re-election over the course of several months, he deferred any formal announcement of his candidacy. It was nevertheless assumed that he would run for re-election and that he would be confirmed as the RPT candidate at a party convention at the Palace of Congress in Lomé on 12 January 2010. He was accordingly invested as the RPT candidate at the convention, although he was not present; his Personal Representative, Folly Bazi Katari, confirmed that he accepted the nomination in accordance with "the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Togolese". Speaking on the occasion, RPT Secretary-General Solitoki Esso credited Gnassingbé with vast accomplishments, saying that—among other things—he had improved the political atmosphere, organized transparent elections, ended Togo's international isolation, and revitalized the economy. He also credited Gnassingbé with various accomplishments in the areas of health, education, infrastructure, employment, and social welfare.
Agbéyomé Kodjo, a former Prime Minister leading the opposition Organisation to Build a United Togo (OBUTS), submitted his candidacy to CENI on 14 January 2010. Although the deadline for the submission of candidacies was 15 January, Kodjo was the first person to formally submit his candidacy. Upon learning that he was first, Kodjo declared that it was "a very good sign" and that he would also be "the first" to be declared the winner of the election. Kodjo fiercely denounced Gnassingbé's "disastrous" record, saying that the state budget needed to be increased, and he pledged "no fewer than 21 emergency measures to restore confidence and boost consumer spending after the presidential election".
On 15 January, long-time opposition leader Yawovi Agboyibo was formally invested as the candidate of the CAR.
Eight candidates submitted applications to CENI by the deadline of 15 January: Gnassingbé as the RPT candidate, Jean-Pierre Fabre as the UFC candidate, Agboyibo as the CAR candidate, Kodjo as the OBUTS candidate, Adjamagbo-Johnson as the CDPA candidate, Nicolas Lawson as the PRR candidate, Yamgnane as the Sursaut candidate, and Kagbara as the PDP candidate. The candidates were predictable except for Fabre, whose designation as the UFC candidate was considered very surprising. UFC President Olympio, whose candidacy had long been announced and expected, was in the United States at the time, suffering from backache, and was unable to travel to Togo to undergo the necessary medical review for his candidacy. Consequently, the UFC submitted the candidacy of its Secretary-General, Jean-Pierre Fabre.
Aside from Olympio, two candidacies were rejected: those of Dahuku Péré and Kokou Ségnon Nsoukpoe. According to CENI, neither of them submitted the necessary deposits of money.
In a letter published on the UFC website on 16 January, Olympio said that the election should not be rushed and that CENI should be given "the time necessary for the preparation of a credible and transparent election". He said that his health was "rapidly improving" and that the authorities were considering his application. The letter made no mention of Fabre's candidacy.
On 2 February 2010, the Constitutional Court validated the candidacies of seven of the eight candidates who were initially accepted by CENI. The only candidate rejected by the Constitutional Court was Kofi Yamgnane, who held joint dual nationality: the Court cited a contradiction between the date of birth given in his French documents (11 October 1945) and the date given in his Togolese documents (31 December 1945). According to the Court, the contradiction was "of a nature to cause confusion over the identity of the person and consequently to weaken the legal and judicial security inherent in the highest office in the country". Yamgnane denounced the ruling, claiming its real motivation was to exclude "the most dangerous candidate for the RPT". Initially he vowed to appeal, but that was impossible because the judgments of the Constitutional Court were final; he then said that his only recourse was to "mobilize the street". He also said that, although the RPT imagined that it would "remain in power eternally", "we have the means to ensure that change happens in 2010 in Togo".
PRR President Nicolas Lawson, who was confirmed as a candidate, expressed his willingness to work with whichever candidate won the election. He also praised the peaceful atmosphere and harshly denounced the UFC President, saying that Olympio "always embodied violence, malice, and revenge, and I am very happy that he is not a candidate because his influence on Togo was fatal".
Reacting to the Constitutional Court's decision to validate his candidacy, UFC Secretary-General Fabre said that it was "unquestionably a message of hope for the Togolese people who aspire to a profound change". He also stressed that Olympio "embodies, more than any other, the ideals and values of our party" and that his own candidacy represented a commitment to continuing Olympio's work. Seeking to give the impression of solidarity amidst perceptions of internal disagreement, UFC First Vice-president Patrick Lawson said that the party was totally united behind Fabre's candidacy.
Speaking on 9 February, Yamgnane said that he would meet six candidates (all except Gnassingbé) in Paris with the goal of reaching an agreement on a single opposition candidate, which would increase the opposition's chances of defeating Gnassingbé. He said that it would be most intuitive to select Fabre as the single candidate, although he stressed that was a "logical preference" rather than a "personal preference". The meeting of candidates was facilitated by François Boko, a former Interior Minister. It was largely unsuccessful, however, as the CAR candidate Agboyibo and the CDPA candidate Adjamagbo-Johnson both abandoned the effort. In a statement on 9 February, CDPA Secretary-General Léopold Gnininvi condemned the "cavalier" way the meeting was conducted, expressing annoyance that it was taken for granted that the candidates would all rally behind Fabre.
Despite the failure to reach a consensus among the candidates, Agbéyomé Kodjo decided to withdraw his candidacy and rally behind Fabre, while Yamgnane also backed Fabre's candidacy. They agreed on the creation on a coalition called the Republican Front for Change and the Alternance to support Fabre; Kodjo was designated as the Front's campaign director, while Yamgnane was designated as its campaign spokesman.
In an interview on 13 February, Jean-Claude Homawoo, who was one of the UFC's three representatives on CENI, insisted that Olympio was the legitimate UFC candidate because he, unlike Fabre, had been nominated by a party congress in 2008. He also claimed that the UFC was divided between Olympio loyalists and reformists, and he stated that he personally did not support Fabre's candidacy. According to Homawoo, Olympio was not suffering from an illness but rather was recovering from a fall down a flight of stairs, in which he broke his knee and bruised his back and neck. Kodjo, speaking on 14 February, also criticized the UFC's decision to withdraw from CENI work as well as the apparent dissension affecting the party leadership. He stressed that OBUTS did not support any boycott of the election.