The National Assembly subsequently changed the constitution so that elections would not need to be held within 60 days, allowing Faure to serve out the remainder of his father's term, which would have expired in 2008.

These events were branded an unconstitutional coup by many, who thought that the National Assembly president at the time of Eyadéma's death, Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba, should have taken power in accordance with the constitution.

Under heavy pressure from other countries in the region, Gnassingbé stepped down on 25 February and was replaced by Bonfoh Abbass; elections were scheduled for April.

The main opposition leader, Gilchrist Olympio, was barred from standing due to a provision that a presidential candidate must have lived in the country for twelve months prior to the election; Olympio had been in exile, and his party, the Union of Forces for Change (UFC), nominated its vice-president Emmanuel Bob-Akitani as its candidate instead, representing a six-party opposition coalition.

Harry Olympio of the Rally for the Support of Democracy and Development (RSDD) said in mid-March that he would be a candidate; he pointed to Bob-Akitani's advanced age in saying that Togo needed youthful leadership.

Harry Olympio alleged that some opposition supporters were not being allowed to register, that voter cards issued for deceased individuals were being distributed and that people were being intimidated by the army, predicting "massive electoral fraud", and said that failure to postpone the election would result in a call for revolution.

On 25 April Gnassingbé and Gilchrist Olympio reportedly reached a deal providing for the establishment of a government of national unity, regardless of who won the election, but this was later denied by the opposition.

[8] While Lomé was reported to be calmer than immediately after the election,[9] armed men shot into the German cultural center before burning the building down on the evening of 28 April.

[10] The Togolese League of Human Rights said later in May that 790 people had been killed and 4,345 had been hurt in the violence covering the period from 28 March to 5 May,[11] a figure considerably higher than previous estimates of a death toll of about 100.