LOME, April 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Togo will on Sunday hold its presidential polls to elect a successor to late president Gnassingbe Eyadema, whose sudden death has triggered a political crisis in the tiny west African nation.

    Hours after Eyadema died, the army bypassed the constitution bynaming his son Faure Gnassingbe, as the country's new leader. But Violent street protests, African sanctions and international outrage eventually persuaded Gnassingbe to step down.

    Faure Gnassingbe, after spending only 20 days in power whereas his father spent 38 years as head of state, will run as the candidate of the Rally for the Togolese People (RTP), the ruling party established by his father.

    Faure Gnassingbe was born in 1966 to President Eyadema from the north of Togo, and an Ewe mother from Afagnan in the south. Faure Gnassingbe received his university education at Sorbonne, Paris from where he graduated in management, economics, and international relations.

    He proceeded to the United States and obtained an MBA from George Washington University. In June 2002, Faure Gnassingbe facedhis first political litmus test when he stood for parliamentary elections on the platform of the Togo Peoples Rally in Blitta constituency in central Togo. He won effortlessly.

    Following his victory at the parliamentary polls, his father, who had earlier lowered the age for presidential aspirants to accommodate Faure, also appointed him minister for telecommunications, mines and equipment. He was in that position when providence thrust the presidency his way on February 5, 2005,when his father died.

    Like his father, Faure Gnassingbe, is a man of very few words. He hardly utters a word in public unless official duties oblige him to do so. But beneath the soft appearance lies a resolute and firm defiant personality.

    His admirers say he has the patience of a good listener, the attentive ears of an Eyadema and the sealed lips of Gnassingbe.

    Even the man whom he ousted from succeeding his father, ex-speaker of Togo's parliament, Fanbare Ouattara Natchaba, has high regards for him when he stated that "Faure was active in all the meetings with the European Union in Brussels during the crucial negotiations and his contributions were marvelous." Enditem