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'Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé' (born June 6, 1966), also known as 'Faure Eyadéma', has been the President of Togo since May 4, 2005; he was previously president for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. He is the son of the late president Gnassingbé Eyadéma, and was named leader of Togo following his father's death. Pressured by the African Union and ECOWAS, who accused his asent to power as a "coup d'etat" Faure resigned February 25 presidential election on April 24, which was sighted by the European Union and the Carter Center as being fraudulent.

Contents

Background

Politics

Legitimacy

See also

References

External links

Background

Born in the town of Afagnan, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé studied in Paris and obtained Master of Business Admnistration degree from The George Washington University, USA. He was a deputy to the National Assembly of Togo for Blitta, coordinator of the commission in charge of privatization and served as Minister of Equipment, Mines, Posts, and Telecommunications from July 29, 2003^[1][2] to February 2005.

Politics

The possibility of Gnassingbé's appointment as President to succeed his father was already being discussed because of his father's chronic ill health when, in December 2002, Gnassingbé Eyadéma amended the constitution to lower the minimum age for the president from 45 years to 35 years (Faure Gnassingbe was 35 at the time). However, his death in February 2005 was sudden.
According to the Togolese constitution, after the president's death, Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba, the speaker of parliament, was supposed to become acting president. However, at the time of Eyadéma's death, Natchaba was out of the country, and Faure Gnassingbé was sworn in as acting president to "ensure stability". Many still believe that Natchaba did not want to come back to Togo due to fears of assassination by the Faure clan. The army wanted him to resign his position and allow Faure to legally take over. This prompted the African Union to denounce Faure's assumption of power as a military coup. But Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba ultimately returned to reclaim his preeminence in the ruling party. He represented the party at political talks in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

Legitimacy

A day after his father's death, the Togolese parliament received clear instructions to dismiss Natchaba and elect Gnassingbé in his place, which would legalize his succession; French law professor Charles Debbasch served as mastermind of the entire operation. Gnassingbé's election was unanimously approved by the deputies who were present in parliament at the time, a parliament that was elected in an election boycotted by the opposition. Therefore, no oversight was present. The members of Gnassingbé's party did not want to challenge the army's choice. The parliament also eliminated a constitutional requirement that elections be held within 60 days of the president's death, enabling the younger Gnassingbé to rule until the expiration of his father's term in 2008.^[3]
Under pressure from others in the region, and particularly Nigeria, later in February 2005 Gnassingbé announced that new elections would be held within 60 days, but said that he would remain in office in the meantime. However, on February 21, the Togolese National Assembly reversed some of the constitutional changes that it had made so as to allow Gnassingbé to assume power, although it did not instruct him to resign. This was construed as a way of pressuring him to stand down with dignity. To change the constitution during a period of transition was itself an unconstitutional act, but this did not deter Faure's allies.
On February 25, Gnassingbé was nominated by delegates of the ruling party, the Rally for the Togolese People, as the party's presidential candidate. He was also chosen as head of the party. Many still wonder how Gnassingbe was nominated since the convention was kept secret. Shortly afterwards, he announced that he would step down as president during the interim period. Bonfoh Abbass, a former sports instructor, was appointed by the National Assembly to replace him until the election on April 24, 2005. Bonfoh served as a puppet under the military elite and the Gnassingbe family. Faure Gnassingbe competed with the main opposition candidate, 74-year-old Emmanuel Bob-Akitani, a retired engineer of the state owned mining company who is the second most important person in the opposition coalition after Gilchrist Olympio. Olympio could not take part in the election, since the constitution requires that any candidate must have lived for at least 12 months in Togo, and Olympio had been in self imposed exile for fear that he would be murdered by the Eyadema clan like his father. He regularly visits Togo where he holds political meetings.
In the election, Gnassingbé took slightly more than 60% of the votes according to official results. The RPT refused to allow oversight durin the counting of the ballots. The EU and the Carter Center deamed the elections to be fraudulent. Mass protests by the coalition of opposition parties led to the murder of over 500 togolese citizens by the ruling party security forces. 40,000 Togolese refugees fled to neighboring Benin and Ghana. Most of whom have since been repatriated despite fears of death.

See also

★ History of Togo

★ Politics of Togo

References

1. List of governments of Togo, izf.net .
2. Monique Mas, "De la présidence Eyadéma à la dynastie Gnassingbé", rfi.fr, February 7, 2005 .
3. "Togo deputies legitimise 'coup'", BBC News, February 7, 2005.

External links

★ The Guardian's article about his father's death and the consequent transfer of power

★ Violent rioting, deaths follow disputed election in Togo, Wikinews

★ Togo Elections on Tv