{"id":880,"date":"2010-03-04T16:46:20","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T21:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/delicious.com\/url\/a25e76aff699f3ac94239d8c4231289f#tomathon"},"modified":"2010-03-06T13:36:10","modified_gmt":"2010-03-06T18:36:10","slug":"togoa-foregone-conclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/togoa-foregone-conclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Togo:A foregone conclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Togo is holding a presidential election today.  Success, according to the international community, will be if the army does not butcher voters and soldiers are not photographed running from polling stations with voting boxes under their arms.  While these may seem low standards, that was the 2005 election, in which <a class=\"zem_slink freebase\/en\/faure_gnassingbe\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=h7HvKEktg0U\" title=\"Togo Election - Fraud and violence\" rel=\"youtube\">Faure Gnassingb\u00e9<\/a> the son of a 38 year dictator, was jobbed into power by the army after his father&#8217;s death, and thousands fled the country.  Today&#8217;s outcome is foregone. The main opposition candidate, son of the first <a class=\"zem_slink\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_Presidents_of_Togo\" title=\"List of Presidents of Togo\" rel=\"wikipedia\">President of Togo<\/a> whom Faure&#8217;s father murdered, was excluded from running.  A relative unknown, Jean Pierre Fabre, was chosen in his stead, rumored to have been pushed by the government itself.  While the ruling RPT is divided too (Faure&#8217;s brother, Kpatcha had much party support before being arrested in 2009), this is a single round election facing five members of what one candidate himself called the &#8220;most stupid and criminal opposition in the sub-region.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h6 class=\"zemanta-related-title\" style=\"font-size: 1em;\">Related articles by Zemanta<\/h6>\n<ul class=\"zemanta-article-ul\">\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/rss\/-\/2\/hi\/africa\/8548787.stm\">Togo hopes for more peaceful poll<\/a> (news.bbc.co.uk)<\/li>\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/rss\/-\/2\/hi\/africa\/8553114.stm\">Ballot fraud row simmers in Togo<\/a> (news.bbc.co.uk)<\/li>\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/nationworld\/2011265125_apaftogopresidentialelection.html?syndication=rss\">Suspense as state of Togo vote unclear<\/a> (seattletimes.nwsource.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;\" class=\"zemanta-pixie\"><img style=\"border: medium none; float: right;\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.zemanta.com\/pixy.gif?w=560\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"><span class=\"zem-script more-info pretty-attribution\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.zemanta.com\/readside\/loader.js\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Togo is holding a presidential election today.  Success, according to the international community, will be if the army does not butcher voters and soldiers are not photographed running from polling stations with voting boxes under their arms.  While these may seem low standards, that was the 2005 election, in which Faure Gnassingb\u00e9 the son of a 22 year dictator, was jobbed into power by the army after his father&#39;s death, and thousands fled the country.  Today&#39;s outcome is foregone. The main opposition candidate, son of the first President of Togo whom Faure&#39;s father murdered, was excluded from running.  A relative unknown, Jean Pierre Fabre, was chosen in his stead, rumored to have been pushed by the government itself.  While the ruling RPT is divided too (Faure&#39;s brother, Kpatcha had much party support before being arrested in 2009), this is a single round election facing five members of what one candidate himself called the &quot;most stupid and criminal opposition in the sub-region.&quot;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/togoa-foregone-conclusion\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[75,107],"tags":[249,183,337,330,332,331,328,327,329],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":912,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/togo-oppostion-promises-popular-uprising\/","url_meta":{"origin":880,"position":0},"title":"Togo: Oppostion promises &#8220;popular uprising&#8221;","date":"March 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The headlines from Lome, Togo are tension inducing. For Togolese or those with family there, it must be excruciating. It appears that President and dictator's son Faur\u00e9 Gnassingb\u00e9 has been elected, while the main opposition leader vowed struggle: \u201cWe will launch a popular uprising until victory is ours.\u201d More ...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Afrique&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Protestors confront police in Lome, Togo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Lome_20100308.jpg?fit=433%2C286&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":969,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/togo-the-political-class-fails-its-people-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":880,"position":1},"title":"Togo: the political class fails its people, again.","date":"March 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Jeune Afrique editor Fran\u00e7ois Soudan has a biting new piece on the recent Togolese election. Noting defeated opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre's neologism \"Africaneries\" (for \"African Inherited rule\", presumably) Soudan turns the tables of blame deftly. \"For African oppositions, some of whom, in Guinea and Niger, have been reduced to military\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Afrique&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":232,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2009\/06\/niameyfirst-signs-of-a-hard-line\/","url_meta":{"origin":880,"position":2},"title":"Niamey:First Signs of a Hard Line","date":"June 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"While reporters continue to carefully attribute the title \"Coup d'Etat\" to leaders of Niger's opposition, events of the last 24 hours make it hard to spin the current situation in any other way.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Featured&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":520,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2009\/12\/us-arrests-malians-in-terror-drugs-link\/","url_meta":{"origin":880,"position":3},"title":"US Arrests Malians in Terror Drugs &#8220;Link&#8221;","date":"December 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The US government will make much of the arrests of three Malians who they say were part of a West African criminal network, devoted to drug smuggling and Osama Bin Laden. So far all we have is hype and what looks like the entrapment of low level criminals.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Featured&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2115,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2013\/12\/looking-for-cocaine-terrorists-the-2009-us-drugs-sting-in-mali\/","url_meta":{"origin":880,"position":4},"title":"Looking For Cocaine Terrorists: The 2009 US Drugs Sting in Mali.","date":"December 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This story originally appeared in Maghreb Politics Review on December 21, 2009, as \"US Arrests Malians in Terror Drugs 'Link'\". The claim that Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the FARC are part of a worldwide drugs for terror conspiracy remains active in American press and government, and remains a fantasy that meets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Featured&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/800px-Carcass_Sahara_Algeria.jpg?fit=800%2C533&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1282,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2013\/10\/african-commemorative-cloths-a-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":880,"position":5},"title":"African Commemorative Cloth: A Series","date":"October 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to my collection of commemorative African printed textiles. I love them not just because of their colors or designs, or because of the history they bring to life, but also because they represent a true multicultural tradition, by which African communities mixed, chose, and formed objects drawing on Asian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pagnes&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mYFK-ec","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions\/900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}