Nicholas Jean Messan Lawson (born 11 March 1953List of candidates in Lome for the 2007 election
, CENI website ."Présidentielles 2003 : Profil des candidats"
, iciLome.com, May 16, 2003 .) is a

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

lese politician and businessman.

Biography

Lawson was born in Aného, Lacs Prefecture. He studied hotel management in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. After working as an executive for a number of French companies, he established a network of businesses in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

, including food processing in Côte d'Ivoire, pharmaceuticals manufacturing in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, and newspaper publishing in Togo."TOGO: Profiles of candidates in Togo's 1 June presidential election"
, IRIN, May 5, 2003. As Togo transitioned from

one-party A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

rule to a

multiparty In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coal ...

system, Lawson took part in the Sovereign National Conference of July and August 1991 as a member of the Association for Social Faith and Freedom, and he was a member of the High Council of the Republic, which acted as the transitional parliament following the National Conference. He was also Special Advisor on Political Affairs to Prime Minister Joseph Kokou Koffigoh during the transitional period. Lawson, running as an independent, was the first person to declare his candidacy for the June 2003 presidential election. In order to stand in the election, he renounced his French citizenship. In the election, he won 0.20% of the vote, placing sixth. Lawson subsequently formed the

Party for Renewal and Redemption The Party for Renewal and Redemption () is a political party in Togo. At the last presidential of 24 April 2005, its candidate Nicolas Lawson won 1.04% of the vote. The party participated in the October 2007 parliamentary election, but did not ...

(PRR). Due to the death of President

Gnassingbé Eyadéma Gnassingbé Eyadéma (; born Étienne Gnassingbé, 26 December 1935 – 5 February 2005) was the president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was immediately succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé. Eyadéma participated i ...

on 5 February 2005, a

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

was held on 24 April 2005. Lawson ran as the PRR candidate, but withdrew on 23 April after the interior minister called for a postponement of the poll. According to official results, he won 1% of the vote. On August 23, Lawson called on the people to vote in the October 2007 parliamentary election, describing the election 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. Lawson was the first candidate on the PRR's candidate list in

Lomé Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

in the 2007 election, but the party did not win any seats.Text of Constitutional Court decision (final election results)
, October 30, 2007 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Nicolas 1953 births Living people Party for Renewal and Redemption politicians 21st-century Togolese people People from Aného