- Title: TOGO: Electoral campaign kicks off as poll rivals withdraw on rigging fears
- Date: 19th February 2010
- Summary: LOME, TOGO (FEBRUARY 16, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MAN PUTTING UP A POSTER OF TOGO'S PRESIDENT FAURE GNASSINGBE ON A STREET BILLBOARD VARIOUS OF POSTER OF GNASSINGBE VARIOUS OF GNASSINGBE'S SUPPORTERS ON MOTORBIKES AND CARS LOME, TOGO (FEBRUARY 17, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POSTERS OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BASSABI KAGBARA IN STREETS POSTER OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NICOLAS LAWSON LOME, TOGO (RECENT) (REUTERS) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BRIGITTE ADJAMAGBO-JOHNSON, OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION OF AFRICAN PEOPLES, CDPA WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BRIGITTE ADJAMAGBO-JOHNSON, OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION OF AFRICAN PEOPLES, CDPA, SAYING: "We are worried and we are still waiting to see and review the electoral list and we will then act accordingly from there." LOME, TOGO (FEBRUARY 17, 2010) (REUTERS) KOFFI YAMGNANE, PRESIDENT OF TOGOLESE ORGANISATION "SURSAUT", JEAN PIERRE FABRE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR UNION OF FORCES FOR CHANGE SEATED VARIOUS OF YAMGNANE AND FABRE VARIOUS OF OPPOSITIONS SUPPORTERS SEATED LOME, TOGO (FEBRUARY 15 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE OF INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION (IEC) OF TOGO HEADQUARTERS POLICEMAN STANDING IN FRONT OF IEC TAFFA TABIOU, IEC PRESIDENT WALKING VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF IEC (SOUNDBITE) (French) TAFFA TABIOU, INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION (IEC) PRESIDENT, SAYING: "The high tension that leads to violence and conflict during elections has to be banished during our electoral process." LOME, TOGO (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN PRACTISING SECURITY CHECKS (SOUNDBITE) (French) COLONEL ALAIN COLANGELO, EUROPEAN UNION EXPERT IN POLICE TRAINING, SAYING: "We have trained them in what we have learnt throughout our career, to act without fear, without violence, without hostility and to ensure that Togolese citizens can vote in total security, and to ensure that they do not resort to violence, especially not to resort to the use of force or the use of weapons." POLICEMEN PRACTISING SECURITY CHECKS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MUSA GASSAMA, UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS REPRESENTATIVE, SAYING: "We had trained them on how to take into account the respect of human rights during the their work, during the elections in Togo." LOME, TOGO (FEBRUARY 16, 2010) (REUTERS) STREET SCENE
- Embargoed: 6th March 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Togo
- Country: Togo
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8B3881J10LWWF3FZHAX3Q7B6Z
- Story Text: Election posters went up in the streets of Lome, Togo's capital, on Tuesday (February 16) as politicians started to campaign for the forthcoming presidential poll.
President Faure Gnassingbe, who took power following a violent election to replace his father in 2005, has set March 4 for the poll.
Yawovi Agboybo of the CAR party, Jean-Pierre Fabre of the UFC and Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson of the CDPA, said on Monday (February 15) that they have withdrawn from preparations for the vote to protest at what they fear will be a rigged result.
Opposition groups have complained that the electoral commission charged with organizing and supervising the poll is being used by the governing party to rig the vote in order to keep Gnassingbe in power for another term.
"We are worried and we are still waiting to see and review the electoral list and we will then act accordingly from there," said Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson, Tog's first female presidential candidate.
Togo's Independent Electoral Commission president, Taffa Tabiou, said it is important that the electoral process is peaceful in a country which has experienced poll violence in the past.
"The high tension that leads to violence and conflict during elections has to be banished during our electoral process," Tabiou said.
Gnassingbe had originally set the election for February 28, but responded to opposition concerns last week with a four-day extension -- widely seen as a token gesture.
But despite the wrangling over the elections, analysts say that they do not expect a repeat of the street violence that followed the 2005 vote.
The European Union, which will help monitor the electoral process, has sent Colonel Alain Colangelo, a police training expert, to Togo ahead of the elections.
He said the Togolese police force is being given the best possible training to ensure security during the elections.
"We have trained them in what we have learnt throughout our career, to act without fear, without violence, without hostility and to ensure that Togolese citizens can vote in total security, and to ensure that they do not resort to violence, especially not to resort to the use of force or the use of weapons," said Colangelo.
Musa Gassama, a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which will also send observers to monitor the electoral process, emphasised the need to have a well trained police force to keep the peace during polls.
"We had trained them on how to take into account the respect of human rights during the their work, during the elections in Togo," he said.
More than 400 people were killed in clashes following the 2005 elections, and another 40,000 Togolese sought refuge in Ghana and Benin, according to the United Nations. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
