Protests against amendments to electoral code

At least 2,000 people demonstrated in Togo's capital, Lome, on Saturday against amendments to the country's electoral code and the continued detention of opposition leader, Yaovi Agboyibo, jailed since 3 August 2001. The demonstration was organised by six parties, of which five had signed the Lome framework agreement. These included the Comite d'Action pour le Renouveau (CAR), led by Agboyibo, who was initially sentenced to six months' imprisonment for defaming Prime Minister Agbeyome Kodjo. In January that indictment was quashed, but he was forced to remain in jail to face a second charge of instigating an attack on a political rival in 1997. "By modifying the electoral code, the government is rejecting the Lome Framework Agreement that the ruling coalition signed in July 1999 with opposition parties", Martin Aduayom of the opposition Convention Démocratique des Peuples Africains (CDPA - African Peoples' Democratic Convention) said. "We cannot accept that." The Lome Framework Agreement resulted from efforts by the European Union, France, Germany and La Francophonie (the international organisation of French-speaking countries) to resolve a prolonged political crisis in Togo. It was concluded three months after opposition parties boycotted legislative elections in March 1999 claiming that presidential polls held in June 1998 had been rigged. The agreement provided for early legislative elections, which were to have been held in October 2001 but were postponed to March 2002. It also provided for the establishment of an independent national electoral commission (CENI - Commission electorale nationale independante) with 20 members - 10 each from the ruling coalition and the opposition. The new code reduces the CENI's membership to 10 and states that the commission will take its decisions by majority vote and not by consensus as it used to do. It also requires presidential candidates to reside in Togo for at least one year prior to presidential elections: one of the main opposition leaders, Gilchrist Olympio, lives in exile. The facilitators of the Inter-Togolese dialogue, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan have expressed concern about the changes to the code.