Involvement Of The International Community In The Organization Of Elections And Post Election Crisis Management In TOGO (1993-2005)

Elections play a significant role in peace processes since they are widely considered to be the main method of achieving peaceful resolution to political controversies. An election process is a means of pursuing or retaining political power in which social differences are highlighted by candidates and parties campaigning for popular support. This process can contribute to peace, but it can also provide entry points for violence and conflicts because of the competitive patterns embedded in the "winner-loser" dichotomy. Such instability can derail the peace process and hamper both short-term recovery efforts and long-term development. Therefore, the challenges associated with electoral processes are issues that directly impact peace operations.Electoral competition has come to occupy a central place in the political life of almost all the countries of the West African Sub-region since the beginning of what has been called the’second wave of democratization’at the beginning of the 1990s. Togo has struggled to find ways to engender confidence in the conduct of free and fair elections. The problem is a two-sided one: how to design and ensure an efficient, effective, and politically non-partisan election management body; and how to reorient the country’s political culture so that the political elite and general public will show a commitment to the rules and regulations of electoral governance, in order to ensure credible and competitive elections.Historically, elections in Togo were characterized by many deficiencies leading the involvement of the international community during electoral process. The role of the international community is to contribute positively to the electoral processes. The international community, (ECOWAS, AFRICAN UNION, FRANCE, French Speaking Word Organization, GERMANY, UNITED STATES, UNITED NATIONS, EUROPEAN UNION...) observe with much interest if Africans are really capable of finding solutions to electoral crises. This study aims to analyze how international actors are involved in Togo in the organization and management of election and post election crisis to better define the contours of electoral crises.