Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (born June 6, 1966), also known as Faure Eyadéma, was President of Togo for twenty days from February 5 to February 25, 2005. He is the son of the late President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, and was named leader of Togo following his father's death. He resigned on February 25, prior to a planned presidential election in April that he planned to contest.

Background

Born in the town of Afagnan, Gnassingbé studied in Paris and obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from Yale University. He was a deputy to the National Assembly of Togo for Blitta, and served as Minister of Public Works, Mines and Telecommunications from July 29, 2003. He has a reputation as a technocrat.

Politics

The possibility of Gnassingbé's appointment as President to succeed his father was already being discussed because of his father's chronic ill health when, in December 2002, Gnassingbé Eyadéma amended the constitution to lower the minimum age for the president from 45 years to 35 years. However his death in February 2005 was sudden.

According to the Togolese constitution, after the president's death, Fanbare Natchaba , the speaker of parliament, was supposed to become acting president. However, at the time of Eyadéma's death, Natchaba was out of the country, and Togolese military officials claimed that Faure Gnassingbé was sworn in as acting president to "ensure stability", but since Togo's borders were sealed off by the army, Tchaba was reportedly unable to re-enter the country. This prompted the African Union to denounce Eyadéma's assumption of power as a military coup.

Legitimacy

A day after his father's death, parliament dismissed Natchaba and elected Gnassingbé in his place, which legalizes his succession; Gnassingbé's election was unanimously approved by the deputies who were present in parliament at the time, a parliament that was elected in an election boycotted by the opposition. The parliament also eliminated a constitutional requirement that elections be held within 60 days of the president's death, enabling the younger Gnassingbé to rule until the expiration of his father's term in 2008. [1]

Under pressure from others in the region, and particularly Nigeria, later in February 2005 Gnassingbé announced that new elections would be held within 60 days, but said that he would remain in office in the meantime. However, on February 21, the Togolese National Assembly reversed some of the constitutional changes it has made which had allowed Gnassingbé to assume power, although it did not instruct him to resign. This was speculated as a way of pressuring him to stand down with dignity.

On February 25, Gnassingbé was nominated by delegates of the ruling party, the Rally for the Togolese People, as the party's presidential candidate. He was also chosen as head of the party. Shortly afterwards, he announced that he would step down as president during the interim period. Bonfoh Abbass was appointed by the National Assembly to replace him until the election, scheduled for April 24, 2005. He will compete with the main opposition candidate, 74-year-old Emmanuel Bob-Akitani , who is the second most important person of the opposition coalition after Gilchrist Olympio. Olympio can not take part in the election, since the constitution requires that any candidate must have lived for at least 12 months in Togo, and Olympio has been in exile, although he returned to Togo on March 19.

See also

• History of Togo
• Politics of Togo

External link

• The Guardian's article about his father's death and the consequent transfer of power