Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Leopold Gnininvi of Togo
Gnininvi accepted the post of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in the government formed after the election, and as a result he was criticized by much of the opposition, including some in the CDPA.
Gnininvi was born in Aného, Lacs Prefecture.
Gnininvi was elected Secretary-General of the CDPA in March 1991.
At the 1991 Sovereign National Conference, Gnininvi was the opposition's initial choice for the position of Prime Minister, but he withdrew in favor of Joseph Kokou Koffigoh, the leader of the Togolese League of Human Rights, who was better known than Gnininvi, for the sake of opposition unity.
In November 1998, after President Gnassingbé Eyadéma called for the opposition to engage in talks, Gnininvi said that the CDPA would not participate because the talks were only intended to legitimize the rule of Eyadéma's Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) party.
Gnininvi was the first candidate on the CDPA's candidate list for Lomé in the 2007 election, but the party did not win any seats in the election.
Following the election, Gnininvi remained in the government appointed on December 13, 2007 under Prime Minister Komlan Mally and was moved to the position of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
In the next government, appointed on September 15, 2008 and headed by Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo, Gnininvi was moved to the position of Minister of State for Industry, Crafts, and Technological Innovations.
Togolese energy and mines minister Leopold Gnininvi is currently negotiating for funding with Togo's partners in order to find a way of overcoming the prevailing situation, according to the same source.
However, Gnininvi said that he was standing down for three reasons: he had already managed to mobilise his own electorate during the first 10 days of the campaign, Bob-Akitani had emerged as the most popular challenger to Eyadema and he did not wish to divide the opposition.
Gnininvi says he doubts he will win, but that it is important to try nonetheless.
Gnininvi said opposition observers who monitored the vote say their results show Mr.