fco_290506 - TOGO - FRENCH UNION 5 Francs 1956 Paris

TOGO - FRENCH UNION

After the Second World War, Togo became one of the first African countries to acquire political and electoral institutions.. The political parties are actively working on the evolution of the status of the country but are divided into two opposing camps in their objectives: the Committee of Togolese Unity (CUT) in favor of a state reunited with British and autonomous Togo and the Popular Movement Togolese (MPT) in favor of the abolition of guardianship and a closer association with France. In 1956, when British Togo was incorporated into the Côte-de-l'Or (or "Gold Coast"), the Prime Minister was now elected by the National Assembly. The Autonomous Republic then had increasingly broad powers. Two years later, on April 27, 1958, Sylvanus Olympio, leader of the CUT, won the elections and was thus elected Prime Minister of the Republic.. The same year, a new referendum, organized under the aegis of the United Nations (UN), allows French Togo to gain autonomy, as a Republic, within the French Community.. It is a first step towards Independence obtained on April 27, 1960.