Friday, March 4, 2005
LOME, Togo (AP) -- Presidential elections will take place in Togo on April 24, officials in the West African nation announced.
Campaigning will begin April 8 and will end two days before the vote, electoral commission Chairman Kissem Tchangai told reporters late Thursday.
"The Independent National Electoral Commission wishes that the elections will take place in peace and security," he said.
Togo tumbled into crisis on February 5 when the tiny West African nation's nearly four-decade dictator, Gnassingbe Eyadema, died and the military named his son, Faure Gnassingbe, to replace him, against the rules of the constitution.
In a show of newfound strength, West African nations rejected what they called a military coup and slapped sanctions on the new regime.
Gnassingbe, 39, bowed to the pressure and announced elections would be held. He stepped down on Friday, with Togo's deputy speaker of parliament, Bonfoh Abass, replacing him as interim leader.
The main opposition parties have said they will take part in the elections, ending years of boycotting voting they claimed wouldn't be fair.
The West African bloc, known as Ecowas, is helping oversee the April election.
Eyadema led one of postcolonial Africa's first coups d'etat, in 1963, and assumed direct power four years later.
Africa's longest-ruling leader, he used troops and repressive rule to resist the wave of democracy that rolled across the rest of sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s. His regime was accused of torturing and murdering opposition-party members.
LOME, Togo (AP) -- Presidential elections will take place in Togo on April 24, officials in the West African nation announced.
Campaigning will begin April 8 and will end two days before the vote, electoral commission Chairman Kissem Tchangai told reporters late Thursday.
"The Independent National Electoral Commission wishes that the elections will take place in peace and security," he said.
Togo tumbled into crisis on February 5 when the tiny West African nation's nearly four-decade dictator, Gnassingbe Eyadema, died and the military named his son, Faure Gnassingbe, to replace him, against the rules of the constitution.
In a show of newfound strength, West African nations rejected what they called a military coup and slapped sanctions on the new regime.
Gnassingbe, 39, bowed to the pressure and announced elections would be held. He stepped down on Friday, with Togo's deputy speaker of parliament, Bonfoh Abass, replacing him as interim leader.
The main opposition parties have said they will take part in the elections, ending years of boycotting voting they claimed wouldn't be fair.
The West African bloc, known as Ecowas, is helping oversee the April election.
Eyadema led one of postcolonial Africa's first coups d'etat, in 1963, and assumed direct power four years later.
Africa's longest-ruling leader, he used troops and repressive rule to resist the wave of democracy that rolled across the rest of sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s. His regime was accused of torturing and murdering opposition-party members.
1 comment:
I got a letter last night from Katie with a stamp of Gnassingbe Eyadema on it. I think it's a collector's item now. Yay! And yay elections! Let's all keep our fingers crossed that it goes smoothly.
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