Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07LOME208
2007-03-14 10:35:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Lome
Cable title:  

TOGO: PLANNING FOR UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS

Tags:  PGOV KDEM TO 
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VZCZCXRO4844
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHPC #0208 0731035
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141035Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY LOME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7843
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0536
UNCLAS LOME 000208 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS
PARIS FOR GREG D'ELIA AND BOB KANEDA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: PLANNING FOR UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS


UNCLAS LOME 000208

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS
PARIS FOR GREG D'ELIA AND BOB KANEDA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: PLANNING FOR UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS



1. (U) On February 25, DCM attended the opening session of
the third statutory congress of the Party for Democracy and
Renewal (PDR),a small northern party aligned with the ruling
RPT party. Zarifou Ayeva, Togo,s Foreign Minister, was
reelected president of the PDR.


2. (U) Present at the opening ceremony, according to West
African custom, were representatives of other political
parties, among them, Edem Kodjo, the president of the
Panafrican Patriotic Convergence (CPP) and until September
2006 Prime Minister, Leopold Gnininvi, the president of the
radical opposition Democratic Convention of African People
(CDPA) and current Minister of State for Mining and Energy,
and Christine Mensah, the junior Minister for Social Affairs
who is affiliated with a local non-governmental organization.


3. (U) In his address Ayeva acknowledged that the recent
past in Togo has been painful for all. He acknowledged the
presence of representatives from different parties and said
that he believes that slowly, but with determination,
Togolese are turning their backs on both verbal and physical
violence in favor of advancing peace and prosperity. He said
Togolese must cultivate the current spirit that the political
parties have recently created and preserve their patrimony
for their children. For these reasons, the PDR chose the
theme of responsibility of the leaders of political
organizations in addressing the democratic process. He noted
that election time is always a time of stress and he exhorted
all to remember that after the moment of elections, no matter
who wins or loses, life goes on, and party leaders have a
duty and a responsibility to ensure that their followers can
still live in their communities among members of other
parties.


4. (U) The vice president of Le Nid (the Nest),a splinter
party from the principal opposition Union of Forces for
Change (UFC) party, delivered a message of non-violence for
party activists and of hope for fair elections and a
resolution of the political crisis that has gone on for so
long.


5. (SBU) Comment: Ayeva recognizes that the upcoming
legislative elections scheduled for June 24 will be a crucial
test of the Global Political Accord between the GoT and the
ruling RPT party on the one side and the so-called radical
opposition parties on the other side. After the violence
around the April 2005 presidential election, many
politicians, Ayeva among them, are concerned that party
activism may turn violent again this time. Ayeva, despite
his serving as foreign minister in a government controlled by
the party of former strong-man Gnassingbe Eyadema, considers
himself to be in the opposition. The fact that his party
congress was attended by the most recent former PM, a current
Minister of State from a radical opposition party, a current
junior Minister from civil society, and a representative of a
splinter party from the principal opposition party reflects
the respect that Ayeva enjoys across the political spectrum,
as well as the interest of other political groups in
maintaining favor with Togo's small Muslim population, which
is heavily represented in Ayeva's party. The upcoming
elections will be conducted on a party list basis and will
provide the first numerical indication in forty years of
relative strength of parties. As the political landscape in
Togo shifts, the smaller political parties on the left and
the right are trying to flexibly position themselves for
maximum leverage in the new National Assembly. End Comment.
DUNN