Back in February, Togo experienced a constitutional coup of sorts. ÄDictatorÅ Gnassingbe Eyadema died after a long, treacherous rule of 38 years. The coup happened when his son, Faure Gnassingbe, decided to assume power despite constitutional law dictating otherwise. The UN, of all bodies, said no to this happening, so what did Faure do? He immediately amended the constitution!

Immediately afterward, the African Union, the same one that endorsed Mugabe’s reelection, condemned the move and imposed immediate sanctions on the country. So did the United States. Faure stepped down, and on March 3rd, elections were called for April 24th. This left only six weeks for them to be organized.

Of course, what does a despotic military ruler care if sanctions are called upon the country he rules? He doesn’t, but elections serve the chance of both removing the sanctions and attempting to give him the legitimacy he needs to rule. Not to mention, given the haste in which they were called, he has a huge advantage over the opposition and just enough time to rig them.

Now the whole world is talking about Togo like it was about Zimbabwe, although you wouldn’t know that from watching television. The UN has urged the polls to be free and fair, along with the United States. It seems to be all words and no action, and because of it, a growing disdain for the international community has sparked due to its inability to ensure free and fair elections.

The leading opposition candidate in Togo’s upcoming presidential election is boycotting a meeting organized by a regional political bloc aimed at calming the security situation before the vote. The opposition has called for the poll’s delay and blames the international community for not keeping its promise to help organize a free and fair election.

The meeting in Niger’s capital Niamey had intended to bring Togo’s four presidential candidates together to put a stop to the violence that has marked the last few days before Sunday’s election.

But the candidate for a coalition of a half-dozen opposition parties, Emmanuel Akitani-Bob stayed home.

A campaign organizer for Mr. Akitani-Bob’s Union of Forces for Change, Jean-Pierre Fabre says the meeting, which is being called by the regional bloc ECOWAS, is too little effort, too late.

He says Togo’s opposition has for weeks called for delaying the vote. If the goal of the meeting is to change the date of the election, then he says, his candidate does not need to be there. But if regional leaders only plan to tell the opposition to calm down, then he says Mr. Akitani-Bob does not want to waste his time.

Mr. Fabre faults the international community for the instability in Togo before an election that, he says, has no chance of being fair.

ECOWAS is incapable of organizing an election, he says. And by putting the Togolese government in charge of the poll, they are placing the vote in the hands of the same people, he says, that carried out a coup only a few months ago.

Do not confuse the opposition with being anti-democratic simply because it wants to delay the poll, however. As you can see, the haste by which they were called will allow for their outright rigging, so the opposition wants to buy three months worth of time so as to ensure the best chances possible for fair elections. Back over a month ago, when the initially called for the postponing them, the media painted them as being “the opposition against elections.”

More on ECOWAS and the inability to prevent violence and ensure free elections:

“We are still protesting, but we have decided to go ahead,” he said in an interview with Radio Ghana. “If we go to the elections we will have problems; if we boycott them we will have problems also. But the conditions under which we are going to hold next Sunday’s elections are very unsatisfactory.”

Olympio was also more conciliatory than many of his supporters towards the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which forced Faure Gnassingbe to step aside as head of state after he seized power following his father’s death.

ECOWAS obliged the government of Togo to hold a presidential election to choose Eyadema’s successor, but since then the opposition has accused the organisation’s election advisers in Togo of allowing the authorities to rig the electoral roll ahead of the vote.

“ECOWAS has not so far been very effective,” Olympio admitted. “They have only three people on the ground and it is difficult to get any message to them We wish ECOWAS had more practical support from the African Union, from the European Union and from the United Nations.”

Yawovi Agboyibo, a spokesman for the opposition alliance, told IRIN that the opposition was campaigning under the constant threat of violence and intimidation.

“The climate is extremely tense,” he said. “No single person feels safe to venture out wearing a T-shirt or scarf in opposition colours.”

Gnassingbe, who is standing as the RPT presidential candidate, condemned the pre-election violence and disassociated himself from it.

“I condemn all acts of political violence, no matter where they come from,” he told the RPT rally on Sunday.

Violence has shadowed the campaign from the start.

One man was killed and several were injured 10 days ago when opposition protestors clashed with police in the capital and in several towns in the interior of Togo.

Lome is tense. Several have been killed and dozens injured as oppositionists have engaged in protests against the government on Saturday:

At least six people were killed and dozens were injured in weekend clashes between government and opposition supporters in Lome, the capital of Togo, as tension mounted ahead of presidential elections that will usher in a new era after four decades of rule by the late Gnassingbe Eyadema.

Hospital officials told IRIN that six people died and 35 were hurt in fighting that erupted after exiled opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio returned home briefly to address a huge rally in Lome on Saturday.

Four of those treated in hospital were suffering from bullet wounds, they added.

Both sides blamed each other for the violence, but eyewitness and human rights groups said the thugs most visible in the streets appeared to be armed militants of Eyadema’s ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT).
…
Saturday’s clashes occurred as opposition supporters spilled into the streets dressed in yellow to welcome home Olympio. The veteran oppositon leader was banned from standing in the election on the grounds that he had not been resident in Togo for 12 months before the poll.

Human rights groups and witnesses reported seeing bands of armed men riding in vehicles through the streets wearing RPT or Faure Gnassingbe T-shirts. They were carrying army-issue teargas grenades as well as rifles and nail-studded clubs.

An IRIN correspondent met one 16-year-old boy whose thigh had been pierced in several places. He said he had been beaten with a nail-studded club on his way home from school.

The clashes continued on Sunday as Gnassingbe held his first major rally in Lome, but no serious casualties were reported.

Of course, no police crashing with Gnassingbe’s supporters. The article talks about Olympio, the main opposition leader who cannot run because he has not been resident in Togo for 12 months. Instead, he has a proxy by the name of Emannuel Bob-Akitani who has united the six main opposition parties behind him.

The six main opposition parties have united behind a single candidate to challenge the son and heir apparent of the late president Gnassingbe Eyadema. He died in February after ruling this small West African country with an iron hand for 38 years. The formerly fragmented opposition is demanding a new era of freedom and change.

The election is likely to be straight fight between Faure Gnassingbe, the 39-year-old son of Eyadema, and Emmanuel Bob-Akitani, the candidate of the opposition alliance. Two other minor candidates are only expected to attract a handful of votes.

Everyone, literally everyone, know how badly rigged these elections are going to be. Whether it is because of violence, ghost voters, payoffs, being turned away at the polls, media blackout, or anything else, even some government officials have a conscience over this. Togo’s interior minister, who organized the elections, was recently fired and defamed for suggesting the elections be put off.

The interim leader in the west African nation of Togo has replaced Interior Minister Francois Boko, after Mr. Boko’s sudden call to cancel Sunday’s election, amid fears of violence. Voters are to choose a successor to four-decade ruler Gnassingbe Eyadema, who died earlier this year, and was briefly replaced in a coup by his son, now the ruling party’s candidate.

Speaking on international radio, interim leader Abass Bonfoh says he was taken aback by the surprise announcement by Mr. Boko. He said, despite the warning, the elections should go ahead.

He also hinted that it was maybe Mr. Boko himself who was preparing violence. The interior minister was then dismissed, and his functions taken over by Justice Minister Foli Basi-Katari.

Speaking to journalists and diplomats at two in the morning Friday, Mr. Boko said it would be, “suicidal” to hold the election on time.

Instead, he suggested the interim president name an opposition prime minister, and that proper elections be held in one to two years time. After his announcement, Mr. Boko’s phone was cut off, and he did not go to his offices.

Here’s what Boko said:

“I fear there will be fraud, that the result will be fixed, that force will be used by both sides and that the street will win out over institutions,” Boko told Reuters from hiding on Saturday.

“There have been irregularities on both sides which means these elections have no sense and no credibility.”

Voting has actually already started. Constitutionally, the military is able to vote before Sunday so that they can “take care of” the security situation.

Togolese soldiers, gendarmes and paramilitary personnel voted Thursday ahead of the presidential polls scheduled 24 April to elect a successor to former President Gnassingbe Eyadema who died 5 February 2005.

The special voting, which would enable the military and paramilitary personnel to perform their security duties on 24 April, is provided for by the Togolese electoral code.

Voting in Lome was done at three centres where voters thronged even before the exercise started.

The chair of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), Kissem Tchangai-Walla, said all measures concerning the elections had been respected.

But she told a news conference that she was disappointed over the absence of representatives of some candidates at some polling stations.

Right. Ask yourself this, “If I were an opposition representative, would I survive a conversation with these people?” If your answer is no, then you have not wasted your time. This could really be the calm before the storm. Ahead of the elections tomorrow, the opposition has already taken the opportunity to declare the results void no matter what.

One of the three challengers to ruling party candidate Faure Gnassingbe withdrew from the race earlier in the day, blaming “irregularities” in the electoral process.

And the chief opposition grouping claimed that “massive frauds” were taking place and that the election would be “void”.

Yawovi Agoboyibo, coordinator of the coalition backing the chief challenger Emmanuel Bob Akitani, attacked “the system of fraud put in place by the RPT (Rally of the Togolese People)”, the former sole political party.

“Tomorrow’s election will be void. It won’t be declared irregular, but quite simply void because of the degree of fraud and irregularity which we are going to condemn.”

He said that the vote was just a “great set-up” and that “it was impossible that it would be transparent.”

He criticized the geographical imbalance in the distribution of voters’ cards, the inconsistencies between the number of electors and the actual population and the “paid-for pre-votes.”

In spite of its warnings the coalition said Friday it would take part in the elections and predicted victory for Akitani, who told thousands of supporters at a final rally: “We are going to bring down the dictatorship, the looting of public funds is going to end.”

The violence I have highlighted thusfar is only the tip of the iceburg — it has been going on for over a month now. Men armed with machine guns and tear gas unleashing upon crowds, nailed clubs being swung into the legs of protestors, you name it. Under the late dictator, simple protest was unthinkable, but now the opposition has shown that it will demonstrate despite this. When the results are announced, and we all know what they will be, I cannot even imagine what will happen.

Make sure to read Gateway Pundit’s rendition of what he’d say about these polls if he were a newsman.

UPDATE: The latest here.