2020: Last round for historic opponents.

The 2020 presidential election is fast approaching. The dates are advanced for certain institutions. And many are those who have already declared themselves candidates for this oh so important election. Among these, we can count people who have been on the political scene since the advent of democracy, therefore, veterans of Togolese politics, those who have entered politics in recent years and also candidates who have emerged from nowhere. But here, we are interested in the first category. Those in whom the people thirsty for democracy and alternation at the top of the State, placed their trust since 1990. Thirty years later, in 2020, the people will reach their limit, the end of their patience which also marks the exhaustion of his confidence in this political class. The course is therefore set for the presidential election of 2020. The opposition has an interest in releasing its last cartridges to finally meet the expectations of the people.

2020; 2020, it is on everyone’s lips. The average citizen talks about it, politicians too. Of course, the Togolese await next year a presidential election to choose the one who will preside over the destinies of the country. It is therefore an opportunity for some to retain power and for others to gain access to the highest office. It is also the quintessential moment when a glimmer of hope is born among the people, the vast majority of whom only hope for change, alternation at the top of the state but also the rooting of democracy.

To promote the fulfillment of their wishes, these people placed their trust in a political class from the first presidential election in 1993 and the last one in 2015.

Yet these political leaders, for lack of strategy, politically correct, and also conflicts of leadership have disappointed the people for three decades.

Thirty years of political life marred by disappointment, betrayal but also dissidence and political nomadism which have endangered the people’s struggle against a regime of terror. With each new election, the people renew their confidence in them thinking that change will come through them but alas. The election year is almost approaching, some of these leaders have already declared themselves candidates. Others are preparing for it in their party headquarters. And soon the charm operations on the people will begin.

And the people will renew their confidence in them so that they restore their dignity trampled by this regime for 52 years. However, like everything, the people also have their limits. Thirty years of political life without concrete results. It goes without saying that the people are disappointed with their political leaders.

These people no longer intend to go beyond thirty years with the same political leaders with the same methods leading to the same results. The presidential election of 2020 is the Rubicon not to be crossed for this people in love with alternation and democracy. According to the opinion, the people want to see finally the alternation become a reality in this country. And so he will no longer receive an apology from these political leaders after 2020.

It is a message that the people send to these politicians who think that without them the people cannot free themselves or find other politicians who can take the lead in the struggle.

But already the behavior of these leaders in the run-up to this more than important election does not reassure.

Undermined by conflicts of interest and leadership, this opposition is divided. A division that puzzles citizens. Either way these leaders have no choice but to put in double packs to win in 2020 because they are playing their last card. Togo will experience its seventh presidential election in 2020 under the era of democracy. In view of all this, it is necessary to look back on the electoral behavior of these politicians since the first in 1993.

The very first presidential election organized after the advent of democracy in 1993 was boycotted by real opposition in solidarity with the UFC candidate Gilchrist Olympio whose candidacy was invalidated on the one hand and for reasons of transparency of the electoral commission and impartiality of the supreme court on the other hand. The Collective of the Democratic Opposition (COD-2), a coalition of ten political parties, then left the field open to Eyadema. He found two chaperones and was re-elected at 97% with a turnout of just 36%.

The voter turnout is proof enough that the opposition’s participation in this election could make a difference.

The 1998 presidential election was no better than the previous one. However, this could not be said without mentioning the 1994 legislative elections in which the opposition leaders had shown their true faces.

That of self-interest, dislike for the people they claimed to defend, the greed for luxury, profit and honor. Indeed, the legislative elections of 1994 gave the victorious opposition. Me Agboyibor’s Action Renewal Committee won 34 seats and Edem Kodjo’s Togolese Union for Democracy won 6 seats.

It was then that the two leaders entered into conflict for the post of prime minister. For some analysts, this was the golden opportunity for the opposition to cut off the vote for a lifetime presidency of President Eyadema.

The hope of an entire people was dashed for the post of prime minister. In clear terms, the opposition has torn apart, divided because of who should occupy this position. These two leaders, far from promoting alternation and democracy, rather contributed to strengthening the RPT for the 1998 presidential election. The 1998 election finally saw the participation of Gilchrist Olympio.

However, the opposition had not found the best formula to counter the regime’s massive frauds that led to the re-election of Eyadema.

The disappearance of the president of the electoral commission, Awa Nana Daboya, now seated on the throne of a puppet institution speaks volumes about the mass of fraud.

Gilchrist, although in exile in Ghana, participated in this election. Some wondered why he would not support the candidacy of those on the ground, if only to inflict defeat on the Eyadema regime.

The 2003 presidential election also demonstrated the amateurism of opposition political leaders. But long before the presidential election, it had, according to analysts, erred by refusing to participate in the previous legislative elections. Thus leaving the field free to the deputies of the RPT to tamper with the constitution in 2002 to allow a life presidency in Eyadema.

The results of the June 1 poll sowed confusion in the ranks of the opposition. Emmanuel Bob Akitani, UFC candidate, supported by CAR candidate, declared himself winner according to their own figures.

In the process, Dahuku Péré, also claiming to be from the opposition, also declared himself the elected candidate. The next day, the winner of the Prime Minister’s post in 1994, Edem Kodjo, candidate of the CCP in this election, steals the show. Edem Kodjo declared himself president-elect with 35% of the vote. The opposition could not speak with one voice to find the best formula against the fraudulent election of Eyadema in 2003.

The people were totally lost in the figures announced here and there by the political leaders of the opposition.

Unexpectedly, nature itself made a change at the head of the country in 2005 by ending the reign of the old dictator who died on February 05. A new presidential election must be organized. However, the shortcomings of opposition political leaders persist, they transcend the Eyadema era. These shortcomings which consist of the inability to claim and snatch victory. In 2005 the people were still there for them.

He voted for the opposition but his voice was not taken into account and moreover he was bullied by the regime in place. And the status quo continues. The opposition leaders could not wrest the people’s victory. Tanks and Kalashnikovs had neutralized any claims.

Edem Kodjo, unscrupulous again held the post of prime minister, collaborating with the regime that had just bullied his people. He will later be followed by Me Agboyibor on behalf of the 2006 Comprehensive Political Agreement with the regime.

In 2010, the people will still be hungry, because the long-awaited alternation will not be effective in the country.

Jean Pierre Fabre, UFC candidate under the banner of the Republican Front for Work and Change (FRAC), was overtaken by the candidate of the regime in place.

Despite the challenges, nothing has changed. The big demonstrations that followed would have been useless. We’re still waiting 5 years to ask the people to vote. And the same actors are on the political scene with the same methods and strategies.

One cannot speak of the 2015 presidential election without recalling the historic agreement between Gilchrist Olympio and the RPT.

Indeed, a few months after the disputed re-election of Faure Gnassingbé, the founding president of the Union of Forces for Change decided to conclude an agreement on the backs of the people. It was a question of helping the capacity to make its mandate more and then to yield the armchair to him during the next presidential elections by a play of musical chair. The people therefore cried out in treason, and disappointment took hold of the people who had so much faith in this man. However, the reaction of the people was not long in coming. The UFC has been stripped of its substance.

Only an empty shell remains. Today those who still cling to this party have only regret in their hearts. A few years ago, we could not even imagine this betrayal for a moment.

In 2015, coalitions of opposition political parties changed their names. However the same actors are still there, same methods, same results.

We are in the 2015 presidential election. The father’s son, against all odds, is seeking his third term. And he had opposite opponents. CAP 2015 was then the main opposition force in this election. Coalition including the ANC and many other formations, and as might be expected, it was still the leader of the National Alliance for Change who was chosen to confront the candidate of the regime. As in the previous presidential elections, the electoral commission gave him the second position. Until then the people will not taste the alternation. Public demonstrations organized after the election results did nothing. It should also be remembered that part of the old opposition boycotted this electoral consultation for lack of transparency.

Such is the panoramic overview on the history of the participation of the opposition in the presidential elections organized in Togo after 1990. By making a meticulous study of this situation, one admits that the opposition had lacked strategy or was is mistaken in strategy at times. Boycott where it was not necessary, participation where it was not necessary.

And in this whole situation, it was the people who felt cheated.

In some cases, some of the political leaders were playing the power game for reasons that the people do not know.

In 2020, the people will renew their confidence in these opposition political leaders for the last time. But it will be the last chance he offers them. The people will no longer accept being tricked by historical leaders called political dinosaurs.

However, the situation which has prevailed for some time in the ranks of the opposition is not reassuring. However, there are still a few months left for this opposition to organize and arm itself to beat the candidate for power in 2020. Otherwise, they will be called to disappear from the political scene by themselves. This is the message of the people to the political leaders of the opposition. They are therefore now endangered species.

Amos Dayisso.

www.independantexpress.net