2007 Togolese Parliamentary Election

Parliamentary elections were held in Togo on October 14, 2007 for the 81 seats in the National Assembly."L'Assemblée nationale dissoute, les législatives annoncées pour le 14 octobre"
Xinhua ('' Jeuneafrique.com''), August 31, 2007 ."Togo re-schedules legislative polls for 14 October"
African Press Agency, August 31, 2007."Agboyibo fin prêt pour les législatives"
Republicoftogo.com, September 13, 2007 . There were over 2,000 candidates, with 32 parties and 41 lists of independent candidates competing. The ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) was victorious, winning a majority of 50 seats. The remaining seats were won by opposition parties; the Union of the Forces of Change (UFC) won 27 seats and the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR) won four seats."Le RPT remporte les premières élections pluralistes"
, Republicoftogo.com, October 30, 2007 . They were the first parliamentary elections since the beginning of multiparty politics in the early 1990s in which all major parties participated.

Background

The 2007 elections were the first parliamentary elections to be held following the February 2005 death of long-time President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who was succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé, elected in April 2005. They followed an agreement between parties in August 2006 and the appointment of a government incorporating the opposition and headed by an opposition leader, Yawovi Agboyibo, in September 2006."Togo's polls will test ruling party and chances of foreign aid"
, EUbusiness.com, October 10, 2007."Le Togo a voté en masse"
Republicoftogo.com, October 15, 2007 .

The elections were originally scheduled for June 24, 2007, but in May they were delayed until 5 August. On July 5, it was delayed again by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), although no new date was announced at that time."Togolese election watchdog postpones legislative polls again"
African Press Agency, July 7, 2007. This delay was caused by a delay in the holding of an electoral census, which was planned to be held from June 8 to July 9 but was rescheduled to run from July 16 to August 17."Recensement électoral : De sérieux soucis pour la CENI"
, Republicoftogo.com, July 13, 2007 . The census was scheduled to be conducted in one part of the country, called Zone A, from July 16 to July 29, and in another part, called Zone B, from August 4 to August 17; in the remaining part of the country, comprising Lomé and Golfe Prefecture, the census was scheduled to be conducted throughout the period. The end date for the census in Zone A was subsequently extended to August 1, and the census in Zone B was delayed until August 6, with the end date being extended until August 19.

Veteran opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio of the Union of the Forces of Change (UFC) arrived in Togo on August 18 and registered to vote. He said that CENI's work was "not too bad given the means at its disposal" and that the census was "encouraging"; he also urged people to register. The 2007 elections were the first parliamentary elections in which the UFC had participated since the beginning of multiparty politics in the early 1990s.

On August 23, Revival and Redemption Party (PRR) leader Nicolas Lawson called on the people to vote, describing the elections as a "decisive step forward" and saying that the country "must return to democratic principles, to survive and to develop". He was critical of independent candidates, who he said did not have political programs and would only increase confusion in a country that already had about 80 parties.

Following the census, CENI spent one month, beginning on August 30, eliminating fraud from the electoral list by searching for voters who registered more than once through a computer system comparing fingerprints. Voters who registered more than once were given until August 30 to come forward about this so that the electoral list could be corrected; they were warned that they would face prosecution if they did not do so.

On 20 September, nine new members of the Constitutional Court were sworn in; this followed the appointment of a new head of the Court, Aboudou Assouma, by Gnassingbé on 17 September.

In CENI's review of the electoral census, about 7,000 doubled names were found. The local independent electoral commission (CELI) for Lomé was dissolved by CENI for failing to respect its instructions with regard to multiple registration on September 23.s On September 29, a new Lomé CELI was installed by CENI President Tozim Potopéré.

Electoral system

The 81 seats in the National Assembly were elected by proportional representation in several multi-member constituencies. Seats were allotted based on the system of highest averages.

Campaign

On August 30, it was announced that National Assembly had been dissolved, that the elections would be held on October 14, and that campaigning would run from September 29 to October 12. On the same day, the 162 candidates of the UFC (including their substitutes) were invested by Olympio at a UFC extraordinary congress in Nyékonakpoe, a district of Lomé. The ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) invested its 162 candidates (including substitutes) on September 7"Le RPT aligne 162 candidats"
Republicoftogo.com, September 8, 2007 . at the Palace of Congresses in Lomé. These candidates included Minister of Defense Kpatcha Gnassingbé, Minister of Social Affairs and the Protection of Women Memounatou Ibrahima, Minister of Labor, Employment and the Civil Service Katari Foli-Bazi, National Assembly President Abass Bonfoh, and National Assembly Vice-President Eric Kpadé.

The Socialist Pact for Renewal (PSR) invested its 130 candidates on September 8 in Atakpamé. Prime Minister Yawovi Agboyibo's party, the Committee of Action for Renewal (CAR), invested its 162 candidates on September 12 in Lomé; its candidates included Agboyibo, the party's president, Gahoun Georges Hégbor, CAR's vice-president and also Minister of Communication, and Ouro-Bossi Tchacondoh, who was Deputy Minister in charge of Local Communities. On the same day, the Democratic Alliance for the Fatherland (the Alliance), led by Dahuku Péré. Its candidates stood in 19 prefectures, as well as Lomé. The Democratic Convention of the African People (CDPA), led by Minister of State for Mines and Energy Léopold Gnininvi

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