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