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A presidential election was held in Togo on 4 March 2010.〔(Togo: la présidentielle reportée du 28 février au 4 mars ) AFP, 11 February 2010 〕 Incumbent President Faure Gnassingbé—who won his first term in a presidential election that followed the death of his father, long-time President Gnassingbé Eyadema, in 2005—faced radical opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre, the Secretary-General of the Union of the Forces of Change (UFC), as well as several minor opposition candidates. Following the democratization process of the early 1990s, which proved largely abortive, Eyadema and his ruling party, the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), successively won all presidential elections, although those elections were always extremely controversial: the opposition boycotted the 1993 presidential election altogether, and it claimed that Eyadema won the 1998 presidential election and the 2003 presidential election only through fraud. Eyadema died in 2005 and his son Faure Gnassingbé then ran as the RPT candidate; although he officially won the election, the opposition again disputed the result, and serious violence erupted. Ahead of the 2010 election, the Togolese government took steps to increase the credibility of the electoral process and reassure the international community that the election would be free and fair. It placed a particular priority on avoiding the violence that marred the 2005 election. Gnassingbé stood for a second term as the candidate of the RPT, while the UFC designated Fabre as its candidate due to health problems suffered by its President, Gilchrist Olympio. Although the UFC was the largest opposition party by a large measure, and although the election was to be decided in a single round on a first past the post basis, the other opposition parties largely refused to rally behind Fabre and chose to nominate their own candidates. Provisional results showed Gnassingbé winning the election with 61% of the vote, while Fabre trailed with 34%. The opposition again alleged fraud, denouncing the method by which the results were transmitted to the electoral commission, and subsequently held regular protests in Lomé. The results were confirmed by the Constitutional Court and Gnassingbé was sworn in for a second term on 3 May 2010. ==Background== The election was conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI).〔(EU gives Togo grant for presidential election ) AFP, 23 December 2009〕 The 17 members of CENI were sworn in on 1 September 2009; it was composed of five representatives of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), five representatives of the parliamentary opposition, three representatives of the extra-parliamentary opposition, three representatives of civil society, and one representative of the administration.〔(Les membres de la Céni ont prêté serment ) Republicoftogo.com, 1 September 2009 〕 Henri Kolani, a representative of the extra-parliamentary opposition, was then elected as President of CENI, but the parliamentary opposition objected to his election. At a press conference on 18 September 2009, Kolani announced an electoral schedule: preparations for the election would begin in October 2009, the official election campaign period would run from 13 to 26 February 2010, and the election would be held on 28 February 2010. He stressed that hard work was necessary to ensure that the election was held before the constitutional deadline. The parliamentary opposition ignored Kolani's announcement.〔(Togo to hold presidential election in February 2010 ) Xinhua, 19 September 2009〕 The controversy over the election of Kolani interfered with CENI's work, and as a result, Issifou Tabiou Taffa—a representative of civil society—was elected by consensus as President of CENI on 14 October 2009, resolving the controversy.〔(Le président nouveau est arrivé ! ) Republicoftogo.com, 14 October 2009 〕 Tabiou Taffa was not a member of any political party and was an obscure figure at the time of his election as CENI President.〔(Un homme libre ) Republicoftogo.com, 15 October 2009 〕 On that occasion, he stressed that CENI's work would be "collegial".〔 On 23 December 2009, the European Union announced a grant of six billion CFA francs (9.1 million euro) to Togo in order to facilitate the organization of "free, just, transparent and peaceful elections, in line with international standards" and to "strengthen the capacities" of CENI and the High Authority for the Audiovisual Sector and Communications for future elections.〔As the election drew nearer, greater government activity and social spending was observed; infrastructure was built or improved and recruitment to the civil service was increased. Speaking on TVT on 30 December 2009, Pascal Bodjona, the Minister of State for Territorial Administration, said that the government was merely doing what was best for the people and that the government's work was unrelated to the election.〔(Bodjona : "On va continuer à faire ce qui est bien pour les populations" ) Republicoftogo.com, 31 December 2009 〕 The EU committed to sending an additional five billion CFA francs at a meeting with the Togolese government on 22 January 2010,〔(Nouvelle aide de l'UE pour l'élection ) Republicoftogo.com, 23 January 2010 〕 and it announced on 1 February that it would have 122 observers present for the election.〔(Le RPT dénonce l’attitude de l’opposition ) Republicoftogo.com, 1 February 2010 〕 On 11 February 2010, the election was delayed from 28 February to 4 March at the request of the opposition. As a result of the delay, the campaign period was modified and set to run from 16 February to 2 March.〔 CENI President Tabiou Taffa announced the official opening of the campaign, set to begin at midnight, on 15 February. In his statement, he said that revisions of the voter list had produced "a reliable voter list of 3,295,646 voters". He also urged the opposition representatives to return to CENI, which they had abandoned in protest.〔(Plus de 3 millions d’électeurs enregistrés ) Republicoftogo.com, 15 February 2010 〕 The security forces voted on 1 March—three days before the general population—so that they would be available to maintain order on election day.〔(Troops vote first in Togo's presidential polls ) AFP, 1 March 2010 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Togolese presidential election, 2010」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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