The
Rally of the Togolese People () is the ruling
political party in
Togo. The President of Togo,
Faure Gnassingbé, is also the National President of the RPT.
The RPT was founded in late 1969, under President
Gnassingbé Eyadéma. The party's first Secretary-General was
Edem Kodjo. It was the only legally permitted party in the country, a role further entrenched in a new constitution adopted in 1979. Under its provisions, the president of the party was elected to a seven-year term as president of the republic, and confirmed in office by a plebiscite.
After 22 years of single-party rule by the RPT, a National Conference was held in July–August 1991, establishing a transitional government leading to multiparty elections.,
The New York Times, 2 January 1992.,
Journal Official de la Republique Togolaise, 17 December 1991 . After the party was banned in November 1991 by the High Council of the Republic (the transitional parliament), a political crisis occurred in which soldiers loyal to Eyadéma, who demanded that the ban on the RPT be lifted, captured Prime Minister
Joseph Kokou Koffigoh in December.,
The New York Times, 2 January 1992.
In the
parliamentary election held on 27 October 2002, the party won 72...
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