The 2007 Parliamentary Elections in Togo

The latest parliamentary elections in Togo were held on 17 October 2007. In February 2005, President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had single-handedly ruled the country since 1967, suddenly died and was immediately replaced by his son, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe. This was in clear violation of relevant constitutional arrangements. Political pressures obliged the younger Gnassingbe to step down in order to allow the country to organise presidential elections. Faure Gnassingbe won the 2005 poll against the opposition candidate Emmanuel Bob Akitani. The outcome of the poll was highly disputed for alleged irregularities and fraud. As a result, the post-election period was marred by widespread politically motivated violence.

Political talks between Faure’s government and the opposition started in April 2006 under the facilitation of President Blaise Campaoré of Burkina Faso and led to the signing of an agreement by both parties in August 2006 in Ouagadougou. This political settlement called for a transitional national unity government to organise parliamentary elections.

This case study examines the 2007 parliamentary elections in Togo and their significance for the democratisation process. It also examines the changes that were made to the electoral system, their effect on the political environment, and whether they have led to an improvement in the electoral framework.

Political Background to the 2007 Elections

Togo became an independent state on 27 April 1960, with Sylvanus Olympio as its first President. Olympio’s term lasted only three years as he was assassinated during a military coup on 13 January 1963. The army put Nicolas Grunitzky in charge as successor to Olympio. In 1967, General Etienne Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had previously helped to establish Grunitzky, successfully led a second military coup and proclaimed himself president on 14 April 1967. Eyadema ruled Togo with an iron fist for 38 consecutive years, which as of end of 2008 is the longest surviving regime of the African states.

At the end of 1969, Eyadema established the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT) as a way of bringing together all the political associations and movements of Togo in a single and exclusive party. Eyadema subsequently won presidential elections held in 1972, 1979, and 1986 without any opposition. The monolithic system was however challenged in October 1990, when massive protests directed against the regime of Eyadema broke out. Following negotiations initiated between the government and the opposition, General Eyadema finally agreed on 18 March 1991 to allow multiparty politics back in the country. The formal opposition emerged then with the establishment of a democratic opposition front named Collective of the Democratic Opposition (COD). The COD pushed for the resignation of President Eyadema and the holding of a national conference. The principle of a national conference was agreed upon on 12 June 1991 between Eyadema’s government and the COD.

The national conference established a transitional parliament, the High Council of the Republic, headed by Archbishop Kpodzo and elected Joseph Kokou Koffigoh as Prime Minister during the transition period. In the process, President Eyadema was stripped of all substantial powers and his role limited to a ceremonial head of state. The conference ruled that the transition would last until the presidential elections, to be held in August 1993. Before the elections could take place however, Eyadema, with the help of the army, reversed the rulings and outcomes of the national conference, regaining his former powers and political position.

The presidential elections held on 25 August 1993 were boycotted by the major part of the opposition led by Edem Kodjo (CPP) and Yawovi Agboyibor (CAR), on allegations of fraud and inadequate preparations of the electoral process. General Eyadema was declared winner in the first round with 96.49% of the votes. Voter participation was estimated at approximately 36%. In the parliamentary elections held in February 1994, the opposition won a narrow majority of 46 seats against 36 for the ruling party.

As international pressure was mounting, the Eyadema government was compelled to organise presidential elections that would entail the participation of the opposition. General Eyadema won the presidential poll held on 21 June 1998 with 51.13% of votes in the first round, shadowed by opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio - son of the first president of Togo, Sylvanus Olympio - who received 34,2% of the votes. There were accusations of electoral fraud and widespread violation of human rights.

In late December 2002, the constitution was changed to remove term limits for the presidency, as the 1992 Constitution initially allowed for only two five-year presidential terms of office. This would have forced Eyadema to step down after the 2003 presidential elections, which he won in June 2003 polls with 57.78% of the vote. The main opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio was banned from contesting the poll on a contentious tax-related technicality.

President Eyadema’s reign ended abruptly with his passing away on 5 February 2005. The constitution of Togo stipulated that in the case of the president's death, the Speaker of Parliament becomes the acting president and has sixty days to call new elections. However, the Parliament hurriedly amended the constitution in order to accommodate the ascension of Faure Gnassingbe as Head of State, following his father's death, with elections deferred until 2008.

Controversy around the legality of the constitutional change and the succession led to intense regional pressures on Faure Gnassingbe, who consequently agreed to resign on 25 February 2005. He was replaced by Abass Bonfoh, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, until the presidential elections scheduled for 24 April 2005. It is worth mentioning that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba, who was in France when President Eyadema passed away, was prevented from returning to Togo to resume his duties. The Togolese army closed all the country’s ports of entry, forcing the aircraft carrying the Speaker back to land in neighbouring Benin.

Faure Gnassingbe was elected with 60% of the vote against 37% for his challenger Bob Akitani. He was subsequently sworn in as president again on 3 May 2005. However, the opposition alleged massive fraud and lack of transparency. As a result, riots erupted in the capital city, Lomé, and there were several casualties. Thousands of Togolese fled to neighbouring countries, especially Ghana and Benin, to find refuge.

Following the post-election violence, the government, under pressure from the international community and particularly the African Union, agreed to open new negotiations with the opposition. This time the talks, facilitated by President Compaoré of Burkina Faso, were successful and resulted in the signing of the Accord Politique Global (APG) on 20 August 2006 in Ouagadougou. The deal provided for the establishment of a transitional national unity government including opposition parties, which was charged with responsibility of organising parliamentary elections.

The agreement was signed by six parties, namely the RPT, the Union des Forces du Changement (UFC), the Comité d’Action pour le Renouveau (CAR), the Convention Démocratique du Peuple Africain (CDPA), the Convergence Patriotique Panafricaine (CPP), the Parti pour la Démocratie et le Renouveau (PDR), and two organisations from the civil society, the Groupe de Réflexion et d’Action Femme, Démocratie et Développement (GF2D) and the Network of African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians (REFAMP/T)].

The APG paved the way for the formation of a Government of National Unity led by Advocate Yawovi Agboyibor (CAR) and composed by main political parties in Togo, with the exception of the UFC led by Gilchrist Olympio, widely regarded as the country’s main opposition party. The UFC refused to be part of the transitional Government in reaction to President Faure’s failure to acknowledge UFC’s prominence in the opposition with the appointment of Agboyibor of the CAR as Prime Minister.

After several postponements, the elections for members of the National Assembly were held on 17 October 2007.

Constitutional and Legal Framework

The 2007 Parliamentary Elections in Togo took place on the basis of the 1992 Constitution (as amended in 2002) as well as the Electoral Code adopted in 2000 (amended for the last time in 2007 in order include the provisions of the APG). It is worth noting that the Electoral Code has been amended five times since its adoption, namely in 2002, 2003 and 2005 and twice in 2007.

The most significant issues discussed during the political talks were pertaining to the conduct of elections, management of the electoral process, voter identification and registration, choice of electoral system, and the reappointment of members of the Constitutional Court.

The system of government currently used in Togo is largely based on the French semi-presidential model. The President of the Republic is elected through an absolute majority system for a term of 5 years, renewable without limits. The Parliament consists in principle of two Chambers, namely an 81-seat National Assembly, whose members are elected by direct universal suffrage for 5 years, and a Senate.. The Togolese parliament, bicameral in principle, has in fact generally been unicameral in practice. The upper chamber was never established, despite being provided for in the 1992 Constitution.

The APG further required the transitional government to establish an independent national electoral commission and adopt all relevant subsidiary legislation in order to ensure the effective implementation of the electoral process.

Electoral System

The choice of an appropriate electoral system for the election of members of the National Assembly was one of the stumbling blocks during the political talks. The opposition advocated the two-round majority system, commonly used in France, whereas the ruling party supported adoption of the first-past-the-post system. In the absence of any consensus, the two parties agreed to give power to the Government of National Unity to decide on the suitable electoral system for the parliamentary elections.

The Government of Natural Unity ultimately adopted the constituency-based proportional representation with closed lists. The system was essentially based on a provisional delimitation of electoral constituencies allocating the 81 seats of the National Assembly among the country’s 30 prefectures and the city of Lomé. However, in practice, the system turned out to be very unbalanced as the distribution of seats among constituencies led to very significant variations in the ratio of representation throughout the country.

Togo is currently made up of five regions, divided into 30 prefectures. Three of these regions make up the northern part of the country, namely the Central region, Kara and the region of Savannas. Put together, the northern regions account for one third of the population, with prefectures of 20 000 to 50 000 inhabitants. As a result of the delimitation process, most of these prefectures were allocated between two to four seats in the National Assembly. By contrast, the southern part of the country, constituted by the region of Plateaux and the Maritime region, comprises two thirds of the total population of the country. Prefectures here are densely populated with an average of 85 000 inhabitants. However, they have the same or less number of seats than in the northern part. The case of the prefecture of Golfe which includes the hinterland of Lomé is the most illustrative. It has only two seats despite its massive 450 000 inhabitants.

Election Administration

One of the major changes included in the Electoral Code, in compliance with the APG, was the establishment of an Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI). The CENI is responsible for the management of the electoral process. This is in contrast to the past when electoral processes were conducted by a directorate under the Ministry of Territorial Administration, with a national electoral commission simply operating as a monitoring body.

The CENI is now defined as an independent administrative authority with a permanent administrative secretariat, enjoying autonomy and independence in its organisation and functioning. Its core functions cover all the activities normally assigned to an electoral commission. However, the Commission shares some of its functions with a number of government ministries, especially the department in charge of territorial administration.

Established in October 2006, the CENI was composed of 19 members appointed on the basis of political criteria set by the APG and in line with Article 15 of the Electoral Code. These included:

─       5 members from the RPT and appointed by the President;

─       10 members nominated by the opposition, two representatives for each opposition party that signed the APG;

─       2 members appointed by civil society, one representative for each of the two groups which participated in the political talks;

─       2 members appointed by the Government.

The term of office of members of the CENI ends ipso facto 45 days after the announcement of final results of the ballot for which it was established. The term is however renewable.

The CENI Bureau is appointed along party lines. The CENI President is designated by the RPT, whereas the Vice-President comes from the CAR, the rapporteur from the RPT and the deputy rapporteur from the CDPA. The Bureau establishes five subcommittees, each of them responsible for specific scopes of activity, namely Finance and Administration, Training and Electoral Operations, Equipment and Logistics, Public Relations and Security.

Article 36 of the Electoral Code stipulates that decisions within the CENI are taken by consensus. However, in cases of disagreement among members, the same article provides for a vote. A qualified majority of two thirds of members present is required in the first round. In the second round, a simple majority of members present is enough. The quorum of ten members present is required, in which case six votes would theoretically validate a decision by the CENI.

Main Political Parties and Players

The political life in Togo is centered on two public figures, both descendants of two former presidents:  the current President Faure Gnassingbe, who leads the ruling party RPT and Gilchrist Olympio, the emblematic opposition leader from UFC, and son of Sylvanus Olympio. The ruling Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT), a party created by late President Eyadema and currently led by his son Faure Gnassingbe remains very influential in the northern part of the country where the Gnassingbe clan hails from.

Founded in 1992 by Gilchrist Olympio, the Union des Forces du Changement (UFC) is undoubtedly the largest opposition party, which generally relies on the support from people in the southern part of the country and the capital city of Lomé, regarded as its main stronghold.

Other smaller political parties are either moderate or allied to one of the two major parties. These include:

─       The Comité d'Action pour le Renouveau (CAR), a party chaired by Yawovi Agboyibor, who led the transitional Government of National Unity;

─       The Convergence Patriotique Panafricaine (CPP), led by Edem Kodjo, a technocrat of international renown and a veteran of politics in Togo;

─       The Convention Démocratique des Peoples Africains (CDPA), headed by Professor Leopold Gnininvi.

 Voter Registration

The voter registration process was delayed by a series of technical difficulties. These included delays in the delivery of registration kits, malfunctioning of some equipment and the lack of familiarity of registration officials with some the digital tools used. The deadline of the process, which started on 16 July and initially was meant to end on 17 August, was extended to 19 August 2007 in order to compensate for the slow start and delays in some areas throughout the country, particularly in Lomé.

It is worth mentioning that an agreement was reached in early 2007 between Congolese and Togolese authorities for the loan of some 3 000 kits used during the registration process in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Statistics released by the CENI indicate that a total of 2 946 852 voters registered for the 2007 parliamentary elections, out of the initially estimated figure of 3 300 000. Potential voters who tried to contravene the relevant election-related legislation were struck off the roll. These included people who tried to register more than once. After the processing of all data, the total number of registered voters stood at a total of 2 911 225. 

Submission of Party and Candidates Lists 

Out of approximately 70 political parties formally registered in Togo, a total of 29 were able to submit their lists and participate in the 2007 parliamentary elections. A total of 2 122 candidates were registered on 395 lists in the 31 constituencies throughout the country. There were also 49 lists submitted by independent candidates.

The final lists of candidates were published by the Constitutional Court on 25 September 2007, based on the provisional lists of candidates submitted by the CENI. In the process the Court invalidated a number of lists for reasons ranging from missing supporting documents to not meeting legal requirements.

Election Campaign

The Electoral Code stipulates that the election campaign should start 15 days before the election and end at midnight on Friday before the voting day. The launch of the official campaign is preceded by a period of thirty days during which any form of electoral propaganda, as defined by the law, is prohibited.

Only political parties formally registered and independent candidates whose lists are approved can campaign.  It is proscribed to hold meetings on public roads at any time or public meeting at night, between 10:00 in the evening and 06:00 in the morning. Any meeting is subject to a prior authorisation from relevant officials, after a written application submitted at least eight hours in advance.

According to the decree convening the 2007 parliamentary elections, the campaign was supposed to start on Saturday 29 September 2007 at midnight. However the CENI allowed for the official campaign to begin on Friday 28 September at midnight. 

The campaign, which lasted two weeks, took place in a relatively calm and peaceful environment. It included the active participation of all eligible political parties and the general public. No serious incidents of politically motivated violence were observed and all the parties and candidates were generally able to organise their meetings freely and share their political agendas with the electorate, despite some isolated minor incidents of intimidation. The calm and freedom of this electoral experience was in clear contrast with past elections, during which widespread incidents of violent altercations would prevail between the army or the police and the population, especially the opposition.

Conduct of the October 2007 Polls

An early ballot involving members of armed forces and the police took place on 11 October 2007 in 54 polling centres throughout the country. Ballot papers from this special vote were sealed and kept by the local structures of CENI up to the normal voting day. At that time, the ballot boxes were opened and their contents combined with ballots from the regular polls. Soldiers and police officers, who would be on duty away from their voting stations, were not only allowed to vote in advance, but also to vote by proxy. There was some controversy around the concomitant use of the two mechanisms on the same day, given that the special vote was meant to afford the chance to particular categories of voters to exercise individually their civic rights. Approximately 10 000 people took part in the advance poll held on 11 October 2007.

The effective poll on 14 October 2007 was generally conducted successfully, despite long queues at the polling booths and delays in opening a number of polling stations due to logistical hiccups.

There was some disagreement before the election about the authentication procedure for ballot papers. The opposition proposed that two members of the staff from each polling station put their signatures on each ballot paper, while the ruling RPT opposed this suggestion. President Compaoré, the facilitator of the Togolese political talks, proposed a compromise solution acceptable to both parties: a stamp would be affixed on the upper side of folded ballot papers to authenticate them. Compaoré dispatched a special aeroplane to carry approximately 2 999 500 stamps for 2 911 225 voters expected to participate, suggesting thus a surplus of 88 275 stamps.

There was some controversy on the way these stamps were handled and distributed. Some polling stations, despite their small number of registered voters, had stamps in excess, whereas polling stations with larger number of voters, especially in Lomé, had problem with the availability of stamps. In a number of these polling stations the voting was invariably disrupted as stamps ran out of stock during the process.

Results of the 2007 Elections in Togo

In general, there is no specific timeframe for the announcement of provisional results by the CENI. However, in order to avert the increasing pressure and expectations from voters, the Commission decided to publish the results on 17 October 2007. Provisional results were available for almost all the constituencies, with the exception of Lomé where vote-counting was still in progress. The announcement was made in the absence of the two UFC representatives at the Commission, an obvious sign that there were serious dissensions within the CENI about the outcome of the elections.

There was more confusion in Lomé because of delays from the CENI in publishing the provisional results for Lomé. The confusion was essentially due to the inability of local structures of the CENI in Lomé in transmitting timeously the results to the central CENI office. The delays were allegedly due to some irregularities and discrepancies observed during the tabulation process. The CENI finally announced provisional results for Lomé where the UFC secured four seats and one seat went to the RPT. The UFC challenged the results citing allegations of fraud and inconsistencies before and during election day, and during the tabulation of results.

The final results were announced by the Constitutional Court on 30 October, while further talks were taking place in Burkina Faso, particularly on the issue of creating an environment conducive to the participation of the UFC in the post-election government. The RPT secured an absolute majority in the National Assembly with 50 seats (924 615 votes), while the main challenger UFC obtained 27 seats (874 751 votes) and the Comité d'Action pour le Renouveau (CAR) four seats (193 087 votes).  Only seven women made it to the National Assembly: five from RPT and two from the UFC lists.

The results of the October 2007 parliamentary elections confirmed the uneven allocation of seats to constituencies, which led to disproportional results in favour of the RPT. The ruling RPT, with an estimated 40.23% of popular votes, has been able to secure 50 of the 81 seats (61.72%) in the National Assembly. The UFC, with its 38.06%, has only secured 27 seats (33.33%) The method for distributing votes (Highest Average method) also contributed to the number of seats given to the RPT. Should the Largest Remainder method have been used, the RPT would have obtained only 44 seats instead of 50.

An analysis of the distribution of seats in each constituency shows that the country was split between the North and South, in line with political allegiance based on ethnic ties. The seats in the North went exclusively to the RPT, while seats in the South were secured, for the vast majority, by the UFC. Only one seat went to the RPT in the South, while the remaining seats were won by the CAR.

The region of Plateaux, which lies between the South and the North of the country, is less homogeneous. The share of seats between the two major parties in the region is almost the same: 12 seats for the RPT and 10 for the UFC. The 2007 parliamentary elections were essentially centered around the rivalry between political leaders and their individual standing in the political context of Togo, and the north-south divide of the country rather than on political programmes and policies.

The most positive aspect of these elections was undoubtedly the fact that for the first time in the history of independent Togo, all political parties were able to take part in the parliamentary polls and have the opportunity to assess their political weight at the national level. But contrary to the expectations that the polls would bring change and inclusiveness, the results of the 2007 elections did not open up the political space through a balanced representation in the National Assembly. The two major rival parties, the RPT and the UFC, together won almost 80% of the total votes at the national level. Most parties which played a part in the Government of National Unity, with the exception of CAR, and other opposition parties do not have any seat in the National Assembly.