AFRICA/TOGO - “We are waiting confidently for the results” say local Church sources after legislative elections

Lomé (Agenzia Fides)- “This time the elections were held correctly, without the violence we saw in previous years” say local Catholic Church sources in Lomé, the capital of Togo where legislative elections on Sunday 14 October (see Fides 15/10/2007) were declared “fair and transparent” by the West African Countries Economic Community. “People turned out to vote in great numbers. Rather than an electoral campaign it gave more the impression of a celebration” the sources told Fides. “On election day the streets of Lomé were quiet and the places where people usually go were busy as usual. The same the day after: life carried on as usual, as if there had been no election at all. Now we are waiting confidently for the results, hoping that things will continue to be so calm”.
Today 16 October the independent electoral commission announced that it will be at least three days before the results can be known.
A few weeks before the elections in a pastoral statement the Catholic Bishops of Togo urged the people to be calm and to have confidence in the democratic process.
“True peace is a gift of the One who said before he suffered and died for love of us: I leave you peace. We must never forget that there can be no peace without God, the sole origin of all peace and of all efforts for peace” the Bishops said in the Letter, of which a copy was sent to Fides.
The Bishops underline that true peace requires trust and truth and they propose these two criteria as a guide for whom to vote. “How could we place our destiny in the hands of person who are not trustworthy, whose word has no value and whose honour resides in their ability to mislead us according to the interests of the moment? How could we vote for someone who makes promises he can clearly never keep? We must use discernment in order to choose those who are worthy and who inspire confidence” the Bishops write.
“We call on the political parties to aim higher than just for power. Power is not essential. What is essential is to work hard to pull Togo out of the miserable poverty into which we have all helped it to fall” the Bishops write and they conclude asking the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen of Peace to pray that Togo may be "free and democratic”. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 16/10/2007 righe 30 parole 394)