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Concept
Union of Forces for Change
Summary
The Union of Forces for Change (Union des Forces du Changement) is an opposition political party in Togo. The President of the UFC was Gilchrist Olympio and its Secretary-General was Jean-Pierre Fabre until 10 August 2010. Olympio is the son of the first President of Togo, Sylvanus Olympio, who was assassinated in a 1963 coup. On 10 August 2010, Jean-Pierre Fabre was elected as President of the party.
The UFC was founded by Olympio as a federation of parties on 1 February 1992. Olympio was barred from standing in the August 1993 presidential election on a technicality. The UFC boycotted the February 1994 parliamentary election. Olympio was able to run in the June 1998 presidential election, placing second with 34% of the vote, behind long-time President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, according to official results; the UFC alleged fraud, however. The UFC boycotted the March 1999 parliamentary election, and it also participated in an opposition boycott of the next parliamentary election, held on 27 October 2002.
Emmanuel Bob-Akitani, the First Vice-president of the UFC, was the main opposition candidate in the June 2003 presidential election and the April 2005 presidential election, acting as a surrogate candidate for Olympio, who was banned from running because he had lived in exile for several years. He officially received 38.1% of the vote on the latter occasion, losing to Faure Gnassingbé, son of the deceased Eyadéma, amidst opposition claims of a rigged vote.
The UFC decided not to join the national unity government under Prime Minister Yawovi Agboyibo in September 2006, although many in the party were reportedly unhappy with Olympio's decision in this regard. The party's Second Vice-president, Amah Gnassingbé, accepted a post in the government as Minister of State and was suspended from the UFC as a result.
The party participated in the October 2007 parliamentary election, the first time it participated in a parliamentary election since multiparty elections began to be held in the early 1990s.
Official source
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