Det har familien gjort i samfulde 45 år i det lille land på Afrikas vestkyst – ved seneste parlamentsvalg for nylig tog familien også stikket hjem og ved næste præsidentvalg i 2015 bliver det næppe anderledes.
LOME, 15 August 2013 (IRIN): Togo’s July legislative polls extended the dominance of President Faure Gnassingbé’s party, which has been in power since 1967, despite opposition claims of malpractice.
These results could narrow the chances for reforms and presage (forudsige) the results of the 2015 presidential election, analysts say.
The ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party broadened its parliamentary majority, winning 62 of 91 seats in the 25 July vote, which had been repeatedly postponed. The often divided opposition cried foul, but the constitutional court confirmed the outcome.
The small West African country, squeezed in between Benin and Ghana, has seen persistent protests since Gnassingbé’s 2010 re-election – which the opposition also said was flawed – and an increase in political violence.
Last year, security forces clamped down on a series of opposition demonstrations.
“The ruling party’s majority win re-emphasizes, one time too many, the overwhelming grip of the Gnassingbé family in Togo,” said Kamissa Camara, a West Africa political analyst.
The Gnassingbé family has “consolidated power through manipulation, corruption schemes, terror, etc… and have managed to control key institutions, which should in practice be totally independent from the state. This has created a totally biased and unfair democratic playing field, which translates into the way the country is run,” Camara told IRN.
Opposition fears
Gnassingbé came to power in 2005 following the death of his father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who had ruled Togo for 38 years. The army-backed succession sparked deadly unrest and international condemnation that forced him to step down and call elections, which he then won.
An ensuing political tension necessitated dialogue between the opposition and the ruling party, which resulted in a broad political accord that included a consultative platform for political and other reforms as well as a truth commission over the poll violence and other past atrocities.
Most of the truth commission’s recommendations have not yet been implemented.
“The ruling party’s victory is merely a sign of continuity. I don’t believe it adds anything to the country’s democracy. There is no progress for Togo’s democracy, and the election disputes only add to the country’s fragility,” said Aimé Tchamie, Amnesty International’s director in Togo.
Opposition coalition Let’s Save Togo (‘Collectif Sauvons le Togo’ – CST), which won 19 seats in last month’s elections, and other groups led protests in 2012 to press for reforms, key among them a presidential term limit as well as electoral and other institutional changes.
A deal with no consequences
Days to the July elections, the opposition and the government reached a deal that included opposition representation in the electoral body, party funding and the release of detained opposition members, but the accord came too late to have a meaningful effect on the opposition’s electoral chances.
“The strategy of going for elections first and later undertaking constitutional and institutional reforms, as called for in the 2006 political agreement, leads one to believe that the government is taking advantage of the parliamentary majority to block reforms it does not like,” said Magloire Kuami Kuakuvi, a Togolese academic and human rights specialist.
“Redrawing the voting zones is the minimum of reforms before legislative polls. It is ironic that with just 70.000 votes, UNIR won 62 seats against 25 taken by the CST and Arc-en-ciel [another opposition group] combined,” Kuakuvi explained.
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http://www.irinnews.org/report/98573/ruling-party-s-win-may-choke-togo-reforms
Begynd fra: “Amnesty International’s Tchamie noted that….
Mere om Togo på http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo
