TOGO: THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION FINALLY ON THE ROAD TO THE

UNCLAS LOME 000422


AF/W - ASHLEY STEWART, AF/PDPA - MOLLY SANCHEZ CROWE
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL TO
SUBJECT: TOGO: THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION FINALLY ON THE ROAD TO THE
2010 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

REF: LOME 314


1. SUMMARY. After a very slow start, the National Independent
Electoral Commission (CENI) has finally begun the task of organizing
the presidential election scheduled for February 28, 2010. There
were many roadblocks to overcome at the beginning, from determining
who would be on the CENI to choosing a president, and there will
more to come given the contentious relations between the opposition
parties and the ruling party and government. With barely four
months before the election, there is little time for the CENI to
pull together a credible election process; however, the government
seems determined to keep to the original dates. END SUMMARY.


2. The CENI is charged with the organization and supervision of the
entire election process. This includes establishing the Local
Independent Electoral Committees (CELIs) and appointing members of
the Lists and Cards Committees (CLCS) which are in charge of
registering new voters, correcting the existing voter list and
providing voter registration cards. The CENI also recruits and
trains computer technicians and other election personnel. It
manages the budget provided by the government and the international
community via the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It
orders the printing of secure ballots and voter registration cards
and assures they are delivered throughout the country. It validates
candidates, appoints national observers and proposes a list of
international observers to be accredited by the Government of Togo
(GOT). It supervises the vote count and proclaims the final
results.


3. The 17 members of the CENI were sworn in by the Constitutional
Court on September 1, 2009 (see reftel). Although the CENI is
designed to be independent, with five members from the ruling party,
Rally of the Togolese People (RPT),five from the parliamentary
opposition parties, 3 from extra parliamentary parties, and 3
representing civil society, this is not the case. In reality the
CENI is divided in two camps: there are 10 members who are
pro-ruling party and 7 who are pro-opposition. According to the
CENI rules, decisions are to be reached by consensus, resorting to a
vote only as a last measure. What this has meant is that for every
contentious decision, the CENI reaches an impasse and, in the end,
the ruling party carries the day.


4. The first example of this was with the election of a president.
The opposition parties insisted that the president had to be one of
their members; the ruling party absolutely refused. After weeks of
deliberations, the acting president, a member of one of the
opposition parties, adjourned the meeting saying they would convene
the next day and the seven pro-opposition members of the CENI left.
The remaining ten pro-ruling party members, who stayed behind,
reconvened and elected Henry Kolani, an extra parliamentary
representative with known RPT ties, as president. The opposition
parties immediately protested and boycotted all further meetings of
the CENI, effectively stopping the organization from doing any work.
After two weeks of accusations and recriminations between the RPT
and the opposition parties and with the intervention of Blaise
Compoare, the facilitator, Mr. Kolani stepped down as president.
All 17 members of the CENI reconvened and, after another week of
fierce debates, on October 14, finally chose by consensus Taffa
Tabiou, a representative of civil society and a supporter of the
RPT, as president. The rest of the board is composed as follows:
the Vice President is Jean-Claude Atsu Homawoo, a UFC
representative; the spokesperson is Yao Date of the civil society
and a known supporter of the CAR; and the deputy spokesperson is
Koffi Akaba an RPT representative.


5. With a functioning board, the CENI now appears to have started
the real work of preparing for the elections. One of its first acts
was to issue a roadmap of tasks to accomplish before Election Day.
The main steps include establishing the CELIs (November 2-6, 2009),
staffing the CLCs (November 9-15),and updating the electoral lists
(November 19-December 16). Presidential candidate nominations must
be submitted to the CENI by January 15 at the latest; however the
CENI has not yet said when it will announce the official list of
candidates. The electoral campaign will open on February 13 and
close on February 26, two days before Election Day. (Note: Togo's
laws prevent any candidate from campaigning until two weeks before
the actual election. In addition, until the candidates are
officially announced by the CENI, they cannot represent themselves
as presidential candidates. End Note.)


6. Comment: The time lost in coming to a consensus on a president
will certainly have a negative impact on the organization of the
elections. There is very little time left to accomplish the
multitude of tasks needed to ensure free, fair, credible and
peaceful elections. However, the CENI and the government seem
determined to make it happen. If the opposition wishes to obstruct
election preparations, it will be easy to throw up roadblocks to the
timetable and render the process even more disorganized and confused
than it is now. End Comment.

HAWKINS