Jeune Afrique reports that the legislature in Togo has unanimously passed a new electoral code. The key effect of the change is that it allows the main opposition candidate, Gilchrist Olympio, to stand at the 2010 presidential election. Previously, the code had been changed in 2002 precisely to prevent his candidature at the 2003 and 2005 presidential elections.

The change is consistent with the Global Political Agreement that was signed in 2006. M. Olympio is the son of former president, Sylvanus Olympio, who was killed in a coup in 1963. The Global Political Agreement was signed between the incumbent RPT, Olympio’s UFC and the opposition CAR. It has no legal status, but it is still shaping the decision-making process.

The question now is whether the opposition will be able to agree on a single candidate. Art. 60 of the Togolese Constitution states that the president is elected in a single ballot. So, a simple majority is all that is needed. This strengthens the position of the current incumbent, Faure Gnassingbé. One wild card is the return of Kofi Yamgnane, who was previously a junior minister in the French government.

There is background to the code, which had been contested up to this point, at the ever excellent La Constitution en Afrique site.