Union des Forces de Changement
The Union des Forces du Changement is the largest opposition party in the West African state of Togo . The president of the UFC is Gilchrist Olympio , its general secretary is Jean-Pierre Fabré . Olympio is the son of Sylvanus Olympio , the first president of Togo, who was killed in a coup in 1963.
The UFC was founded by Olympio on February 1, 1992 as a federation of parties. Olympio was excluded from the Togolese parliamentary elections in 1994 for technical reasons. The UFC then boycotted the elections. Olympio then took part in the presidential elections in 1998 and, according to official information, came second after long-term president Gnassingbé Eyadéma with 34% of the votes , but the UFC suspected electoral fraud and boycotted the parliamentary elections of March 1999, and the UFC also took part in one of the next parliamentary elections in 2002 Boycott of the opposition.
Emmanuel Bob-Akitani , the UFC's first vice-president, was the opposition's main candidate in the 2003 and 2005 presidential elections. He was nominated to replace Olympio, who had been banned from the elections because he had lived abroad for several years. Officially, Bob-Akitani received 38.1% of the vote in 2005, losing to Faure Gnassingbé , the son of the late Eyadéma. The opposition spoke of election fraud.
The UFC decided not to participate in the National Unity Government of Prime Minister Yawovi Agboyibo in September 2006, although many in the party were dissatisfied with Olympios' decision. Amah Gnassingbé, for example, the second vice president of the UFC, accepted a post as minister of state in the government and was therefore expelled from the party.
For the first time since the early 1990s multi-party elections were held, the UFC took part in the Togolese parliamentary elections in October 2007. The party won 27 out of 81 seats, trailing the Rassemblement du peuple togolais , which won the majority. The UFC complained about irregularities in the election. After the Constitutional Court upheld the result, UFC General Secretary Jean-Pierre Fabré described the result as "neither credible nor acceptable" and said that the result did not represent the will of the Togolese people.
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- ^ Profile of Olympio at UFC website
- ^ "Historique du mouvement patriotique togolais" , UFC website
- ↑ "CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 40 OF THE COVENANT: Addendum TOGO" ( Memento of June 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 177 kB), United Nations International covenant on civil and political rights, CCPR / C / TGO / 2001/3, July 5, 2001.
- ^ A b Political Parties of the World (6th edition, 2005), ed.Bogdan Szajkowski, page 592.
- ↑ “Communiqué de presse de la Coalition des Forces Démocratiques à la suite de la mascarade électorale du 27 October 2002” , togo-confidentiel.com, October 28, 2002.
- ^ "Le Gouvernement Togolais" ( Memento of February 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Republicoftogo.com.
- ↑ "Amah Gnassingbé exclu de l'UFC" , Forum de la Semaine , number 191 (iciLome.com), September 21, 2006.
- ↑ "Amah Gnassingbé n'est pas exclu de l'UFC selon G. Olympio" , Xinhua (Jeuneafrique.com), February 15, 2007.
- ↑ "Les candidats s'y collent!" ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Republicoftogo.com, September 30, 2007.
- ^ "Le RPT remporte les premières élections pluralistes" ( Memento of January 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), Republicoftogo.com, October 30, 2007.
- ↑ Selah Hennessy, "Togo Opposition Disputes Vote Count" ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , VOA News, October 17, 2007.
- ↑ “Le dernier contestataire” ( Memento of the original from November 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Republicoftogo.com, October 31, 2007.
- ↑ "Togo: Opposition challenges election results released by Constitutional court" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , African Press Agency, October 31, 2007.
