Togo - President

Based on information from L'Album 1990, and the illustration in correction 26, the flag of the President of Togo is an (approximately) square flag based on the design of the Togolese national flag but having the square canton covering a larger area than normal. In the canton the star from the national flag is replaced by a golden laurel wreath with a smaller white star in its base and between the branches are the initials GE in gold. These stand for Gnassingbé Eyadéma, the President of Togo who took the power in 1967 when using the name Étienne Eyadema [the accents are uncertain and are written differently in several sources I consulted]. Eyadema changed his name to Gnassingbé on 08 May 1974 (according to http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1058/rulers.html). The font, size and position of the initials is my interpretation ("reconstruction" if you will) since the image in L'Album does not contain any initials.

Depending on when this flag was adopted, it may be that EE might also have been used (but probably without accents. It may even be possible that former presidents had versions of their own following the French tradition. In that case here is the list from the source mentioned above:

27 Apr 1960 - 13 Jan 1963	Sylvanus Olympio (b. 1902 - d. 1963) (acting to 12 Apr 1961)
13 Jan 1963 - 15 Jan 1963	Emmanuel Bodjollé (b. 1928) (chairman Insurrection Committee)
16 Jan 1963 - 13 Jan 1967	Nicolas Grunitzky (b. 1913 - d. 1969) (acting to 5 May 1963)
14 Jan 1967 - 14 Apr 1967	Kléber Dadjo (b. 1914) (chairman National Reconciliation Committee)
14 Apr 1967 - 05 Feb 2005	Étienne Eyadema (from 8 May 1974, Gnassingbe Eyadema) (b. 1937)

Željko Heimer, 21 May 2000

Gnassingbe Eyadema ruled Togo under a one-party system and died of a heart attack on 05 February 2005. In terms of the Togolese Constitution, the President of the Parliament, Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba should have succeeded Eyadema as President pending the outcome of a Presidential election to be called within 60 days. However, Natchaba was out of the country at the time of Eyadema's death and the armed forces (Forces Armées Togolaises) closed the country's borders and refused to allow Natchaba to return to the country. With an engineered political vacuum, parliament voted to remove the clause requiring a Presidential election to be held within 60 days and declared Eyadema's son, Faure Gnassingbé, would "inherit" the presidency and hold office for the remainder of his father's term. Faure was sworn in as President on 07 February 2005, despite international criticism.

The African Union described the takeover as a coup d'etat and there was considerable opposition within the country, particularly in the south were there were reports of several deaths following civilian uprisings. In response, Faure Gnassingbé agreed to hold elections. On 24 April 2005, Gnassingbé was elected President of Togo after receiving over 60% of the vote according to official results and was sworn in as President on 03 May 2005. He was re-elected again in March 2010.
Bruce Berry, 08 June 2013

Togo - President

Presidential Standard