Togo - 2017

The demand for political alternance, initiated by institutional and electoral reforms, constituted the major contentious issue between the government and the challengers of the Gnassingbé regime throughout the year. Civil society organizations and representatives of the Christian church supported the demands of the opposition. The protest of the notorious divided opposition took a new momentum since August with the lead by a hitherto hardly known opposition party and its charismatic leader, Tikpi Atchadam. He organized huge demonstrations of all the 14 opposition parties in the second half of the year which put the government progressively under pressure. Foreign affairs were dominated by the impact of increased aid by the international donor community. Socio-economic development was marked by diminishing human development and economic freedom.