Togolese newspapers this week directed most
of their editorial towards the forthcoming general elections
to be held on 10 March 2002.
A skeptical pro-opposition newspaper, L'Evenement, wrote in its
frontpage that "the strategy of the government is to make sure
the voters lose interest in the next polls".
It cited several incidents, including the incarceration of Yawovi
Agboyibo, the leader of the opposition Action Committee for
Renewal (CAR) as actions capable of causing the population's
disenchantment towards those elections.
However, the Carrefour, which is also close to the opposition,
saw the next elections as an opportunity to "outmanoeuvre" the
ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RTP).
Nonetheless, it agreed that incidents like the imprisonment of
Yawovi Agboyibo could make the population lose interest in
Togolese politics, including the electoral process.
Carrefour advised the populations not lose hope and to "avoid the
various traps of this outdated system". The paper encouraged all
Togolese citizens who aspire to real change to unite and ensure
that the next polls would be free and fair.
It called on the population to be vigilant by "carefully
monitoring all the preparations right from the revision of the
voters registers to the vote, so as to drive out the dying regime
which is to blame for the people's misfortunes".
Taking a different view, La Nouvelle Republique, the mouthpiece
of President Gnassingbe Eyadema's ruling RTP, promised in its
Wednesday issue that there would be "sparks" on 10 March 2002.
It predicted that the opposition would lose the polls again
because it is only a shadow of what it used to be.
"It (the opposition) is politically dead and far from convincing,
has no development programme for the Togolese population and
above all it cannot manage power".
The time of truth is coming, boasted La Nouvelle Republic,
adding "the 10th of March 10th is fast approaching. Let's just
wait and see".
