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afrol News, 5 April - Six months ago, the Togolese opposition furiously walked out of the Joint-Oversight Committee (JOC), where they, together with a presidential delegation, were to prepare for legislative elections. After blocking these preparations for months, the parties now have joined the JOC again, after President Gnassingbé Eyadema agreed to free a detained opposition leader. The talks are however heading for a deadlock again. Opposition members refused to join the National Independent Electoral Commission - which was mandated to run all election-related activities - originally in reaction to a unilateral government revision of the electoral code. The case of Yaovi Agboyibo, leader of the opposition Action Committee for Renewal party (CAPR), further complicated the situation, and on 20 February, the opposition announced it conditioned its membership to the Commission on the release from jail of Agboyibo. The legislative elections, scheduled for 3 March, have been indefinitively postponed. Faced by massive local and international critics, President Eyadema finally intervened in the political deadlock on 14 March. Agboyibo was set free by presidential decree in a step Eyadema called "an act of political appeasement." Initially sentenced to a six-month prison term in August 2001 for defaming Prime Minister Agbeyome Kodjo, Agboyibo was immediately rearrested to face a second charge of instigating an attack on a political rival in 1997. On 26 March, the opposition parties returned to the political forums preparing for the elections, including the newly released Agboyibo. Ebow Godwin from 'The Ghanaian Chronicle' reported about a surprisingly "relaxed atmosphere" at Hotel Le Bénin in the capital, Lomé, where the Committee meets. It "was a moment of brief political triumph which began to restore the flagging, dissipating hopes of the ordinary Togolese people in the country’s rickety, crawling democratic process," Godwin reports. Having secured the release of CAPR leader Agboyido, one major conflict issue however remains. A united opposition protests against the unilateral modification of the Togo Electoral Code in February, this year. They claim the original Electoral Code was the product of consensus negotiations and, therefore, could not be changed. Even UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in February voiced his concern over "the stalemate of the electoral process in Togo and the breakdown of the political consensus in the country." Under the new electoral code, the National Electoral Commission (CENI) is reduced from 20 to 10 members, but will still be equally divided between the opposition and government parties. A major change is however that the CENI will no longer take decisions by consensus but by simple majority. The Togolese legislators claimed a consensus was "often hard to reach" while the opposition held this to be a guarantee for the commission's incorruptibility. Another novelty favouring the ruling party was that elections now will be limited to a single round, the winner being the candidate with the highest number of votes (not requiring over 50 percent of the votes). While the opening of the talks went surprisingly smooth - CAPR leader Agboyido holding a reconciling speech even applauded by government delegates - the electoral code amendments now are producing a new deadlock. The united opposition demands the reversion of the amendments, saying the changes had been "a violation of the Lomé Framework Agreement," signed in 1999 between the opposition and the government, under UN and EU auspices. The Lomé Framework Agreement indeed is a key document in Togolese politics, as Eyadema's government had been forced to comprehend that its iron grip on the small West African country was counterproductive. The rigged 1998 presidential polls and the 1999 legislative polls boycotted by the opposition were followed by an international boycott, strongly hurting Togolese economy. The Lomé Agreement was to find a solution to the socio-politic crisis by government-opposition cooperation and the following return of international cooperation. The government holds that the changes to the code were legitimately approved by a parliamentary majority, something that is rejected by the opposition, which is not represented in Parliament due to its boycott of the 1999 elections. The government further holds the changes were only of "simplifying it", not of changing its character - therefore it was not relevant to the Lomé Agreement. This is also rejected by the opposition, claiming the changes would make election rigging more easily. A clear deadlock has been noted during the latest sessions of the Committee, signalling that the election preparations still are not moving forward. A projected solution is to call for the college of foreign facilitators from France, Germany, EU and the Francophonie to rescue the process. The facilitators have already used strong pressure against the government - also to release CAPR leader Agboyido - to find a solution to the Togolese political crisis. Also when the changes to the electoral code were announced, the facilitating country Germany stated the changes "threatened democracy" in Togo. The financial aspects of reaching reconciliation are strong, rather making the voices of the "facilitators" another party to the talks. The road toward democracy in Togo is still long, but the pathfinders are already making their reconnaissance. Finally, the biggest question is whether dictator Eyadema - in power since 1967 and fond of total powers - will be willing to step down if losing free and fair elections. The fact that he has embarked on the Lomé Agreement process demonstrates that he is not in a situation to follow the Zimbabwean example of Mugabe. Eyadema is more dependent on international - in particular European - assistance and cannot count on strong neighbour assistance as could Mugabe. Sources: Based on press reports and afrol archives
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