Togo Revises Constitution to Eliminate Term Limits: An Explainer

The ruling party’s revision of the Togolese Constitution eliminates universal suffrage for the presidency while effectively shifting to a parliamentary system that evades presidential term limits.

Anti-riot policemen warn protesters in Lomé ahead of the opposition-boycotted presidential election in February 2020. (Photo: AFP/Pius Utomi Ekpei)

What is happening in Togo?

• On April 19, lawmakers in the National Assembly from the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party adopted a change to the Constitution, by a vote of 87-0, that eliminates citizens’ right to vote directly for the president of the republic.
• The approved Constitution also establishes a new powerful executive position of President of the Council of Ministers. Elected by the National Assembly, this individual will effectively act as a prime minister overseeing the day-to-day operations of the government. The President of the Council of Ministers will come from the party with the most seats in the legislature or lead a coalition of parties if there is no single-party majority.
• The term of office of the President of the Council of Ministers will be 6 years. However, as in a parliamentary system, this mandate is renewable indefinitely so long as the ruling power retains a majority. This removes the stipulation of a limit of two 5-year presidential terms—a key provision in the 2019 Constitution that had been adopted after widespread popular protests.
• The new Constitution retains a figurehead President who is subject to a 4-year mandate renewable once.

Why is this significant?

• The Constitutional revision creates an avenue by which President Faure Gnassingbé can extend his family’s 57-year dynastic rule, along with his own 19-year tenure in power.
• This fundamental change to Togo’s system of government while limiting citizens’ political rights was taken not through a popular referendum but by the long dominant ruling party operating through opaque legislative procedures.
• The ruling party’s dominance of the current National Assembly is a result of an opposition boycott of the 2018 elections due to alleged irregularities.
• Togo is preparing for legislative elections on April 29 in which the opposition is contesting. The timing of the Constitutional revision is apparently an effort to lock in ruling party control while it has a stranglehold on power.
• These elections are held within a context of popular distrust of the Independent National Electoral Commission, which is seen as facilitating an uneven electoral playing field.
• This latest in a pattern of seemingly undemocratic moves to retain power by the ruling party may trigger greater social and political strains in this country of 8.6 million with an annual per capita income of $900. National disunity would distract Togo from stabilizing its northern regions that face a growing threat from militant Islamist group violence spilling over from Burkina Faso.
• The legislative action in Togo follows a pattern of 15 African heads of state evading term limits since 2015. It also takes place within a backdrop of democratic backsliding in West Africa where 4 countries have experienced military coups since 2020.
• The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) dispatched a delegation to Togo to engage with all stakeholders in the framework of the upcoming regional and legislative elections. The report from this consultation is pending.
• Reticence on the part of the ECOWAS to criticize the constitutional revision in Togo may encourage further constitutional sleight of hand—as well as extraconstitutional power grabs—in the region. ECOWAS’s Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance stipulates that, “No substantial modification shall be made to the electoral laws in the last six months before the elections, except with the consent of a majority of political actors.”

Protesters carry a placard reading “dictatorship feeds on silence and inactivity” while they march for reforms at an anti-government rally in Lomé. (Photo: AFP)

What has been the public’s response?

• The move has generated outrage from the opposition who have labelled the legislative action a constitutional coup. Nathaniel Olympio, President of the Parti des Togolais said, “By depriving the Togolese of choosing the President of the republic through this constitutional coup, this regime has crossed a red line.”
• Another opposition party, the Dynamique pour la Majorité du Peuple, said the constitutional changes amount to a “political maneuver to allow Gnassignbé to extend his tenure for life.”
• Others have decried the opacity of the process noting that the text of the changes had not even been made public.

• Around 100 Togolese academics and civil society groups signed an appeal calling on citizens to “mobilize” and reject what they perceive as Gnassingbé’s abuse of power.
• A group representing Togo’s Catholic bishops said lawmakers had no right to adopt a new constitution given that the parliament’s mandate had expired in December ahead of legislative elections.
• The civil society coalition “Touche pas à ma constitution” or “Don’t touch my constitution” announced that it has brought an action before the ECOWAS Court of Justice.
• Protests organized by the opposition have been banned, although some were held, nonetheless. Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson, leader of the Convention Démocratique des Peoples Africains party summarized the opposition’s defiance saying, “We’re not going to accept this, and we will fight against this constitution.“
• This is tempered by a widespread fear among Togolese that they could be targeted by authorities for expressing their views in public. Opposition politicians have been arrested for organizing protests. An opposition press conference under the banner of “Don’t Touch My Constitution” was similarly broken up by security forces. Public prosecutor Talaka Mawama said an investigation had been launched against “individuals caught distributing leaflets and chanting slogans inciting popular revolt.”

What role has the security sector played?

• Togo’s police and army are seen as closely aligned with the ruling UNIR party. The army was instrumental in ensuring Faure Gnassignbé succeeded his father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma, when he died in office in 2005. Security actors’ response to protests in 2005 left hundreds dead.
• Violent police crackdowns on political demonstrations have been routine under Gnassingbé family rule.
• 70 percent of the military are from Gnassingbé’s Kabye ethnic group, even though the group makes up only a quarter of the population.