Electoral college calls for legislative polls

Togo's electoral college of seven judges, set up in May to replace a dysfunctional National Electoral Commission, has announced that legislative elections should take place by the end of the year. No specific date was given for the election, the judges said in a statement on Friday, adding that the polling date would be set after the equipment and materials necessary to hold proper elections had been received. The names of commission members to sit on various electoral technical committees were announced. The judges' statement has elicited mixed opinions from opposition groups, which had demanded the elections, with two coalition groups saying they would not take part in the polls but the Front de l'opposition republicaine (FOR) announcing that it would take part if the elections were to be free and fair. One coalition representing the opposition parties within the former national electoral commission and a newly formed coalition of four opposition groups said at the weekend that they would not take part. Both coalitions said there would have to be a national electoral commission in place - as agreed by the government and the opposition under a 1999 Lome Framework Agreement - in order to secure their participation. "Before going to these polls, there are minimum conditions that need to be met, including the replacement of the committee of judges by a national independent electoral commission," said Edem Kodjo of the Convergence Patriotique Panafricaine. However, the FOR said it would participate in the early polls on condition that the proposed electoral arrangements were made in all "transparency and equality". It called on those who threatened a boycott of the polls not to go ahead with it, in the interest of the population. The holding of legislative elections has caused political tension in Togo since the presidential elections of 1998. The opposition boycotted legislative elections that were scheduled for March 1999, claiming that the 1998 presidential vote had not been fair. To avert a growing crisis, the government and opposition groups signed the Lome Framework Agreement, under pressure from foreign countries, in July 1999. Among other things, the Lome agreement called for fresh polls, which were overdue since October 2001. These have not been held since there has been no agreement on the manner in which they should be organised.