Togolese legislators ratified a fresh constitution on Monday, transitioning the nation from a presidential to a parliamentary framework and granting parliament the authority to choose the leader of the small West African nation.
According to the newly amended text, the president will be designated “without dispute” by legislators “for a lone six-year duration”, bypassing public involvement in the selection process.
The ballot occurs just shy of a month before the upcoming legislative elections in Togo. However, the timeline for the implementation of the change, ratified with 89 affirmatives, one dissenting, and one abstention, remains undisclosed.
Presently, the president is limited to a maximum of two consecutive five-year mandates.
The constitutional amendment, put forth by a coalition of legislators predominantly affiliated with the ruling Union for the Republic party, garnered near-universal approval.
The country’s opposition, which boycotted the last legislative elections in 2018 and denounced “irregularities” in the electoral census, is poorly represented in the national assembly.
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The new constitution also introduces the position of “president of the council of ministers” with “full authority and power to manage the affairs of the government and to be held accountable accordingly”.
The president of the council of ministers is “the leader of the party or the leader of the majority coalition of parties following the legislative elections. The position will be held for a six-year term”, according to the text.
“The head of state is practically divested of his powers in favour of the president of the council of ministers, who becomes the person who represents the Togolese Republic abroad, and who effectively leads the country in its day-to-day management,” said Tchitchao Tchalim, chairman of the national assembly’s committee on constitutional laws, legislation and general administration.
With the most recent substantial constitutional modification dating back to 1992, the introduction of the new text will signify Togo’s entrance into its fifth republic.
This development occurs just under a month before the forthcoming legislative elections, slated for April 20, which will coincide with regional elections, where the opposition has confirmed its involvement.
Parliamentarians revised the constitution in 2019 to limit presidential terms to two, but the change was not applied retroactively, granting President Faure Gnassingbe the liberty to contest the next two elections.
Marking nearly two decades in office, Gnassingbe assumed leadership in 2005, inheriting the mantle from his father, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, who seized power in a coup more than 50 years ago.