Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbe’, will now only require Parliament’s vote to be president.
photo credit: Gettyimages.
The Togolese parliament has adopted a new Constitution that changed the country’s presidential system of government to a parliamentary one.
The vote comes less than a month before the next legislative elections in Togo, but it is not yet known when the change will come into force.
The legislation was proposed by members of parliament from the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) and was almost unanimously adopted. A majority of 89 out of 91 deputies voted in favor of the new amendments
According to the government communique, the new law grants the authority of electing a president “without debate” for a “single six-year term” exclusively to the parliament, and not the general Togolese population. Until then, the term of office of the Togolese president, elected by direct suffrage, was five years, renewable once.
Reports say the new law also creates the position of “President of the Council of Ministers”, who will be tasked with running the day-to-day affairs of the government. This, the Chairman of the National Assembly’s committee on constitutional laws, Tchitchao Tchalim, says “practically divests” the president of his powers in favor of the President of the Council of Ministers.
Critics argue, however, that President Faure Gnassingbe, who has been in power since 2005 – following the death of his father Gnassingbe Eyadema who ruled the country for 38 years – is attempting to perpetuate himself in office by absolving Togolese of the right to elect their president.
Speaking on the development on her X page, popular Togolese Human Rights defender, Farida Bemba accused Faure of influencing the lawmakers to pass the new constitution.
“Last night, the dictator of #Togo, @FEGnassingbe, successfully orchestrated a legislative coup. His self-constituted parliament, filled with his siblings, nephews, cousins, and cronies, adopted a new constitution. Under this new constitution, he will no longer be elected by the people but appointed by the parliament,” she wrote.
Others, including Tchalim, disagree. He argues that the reduction of the president’s poweres is a significant change because the new law also creates the position of President of the Council of Ministers, tasked with running the day-to-day affairs of the government.
It is not clear if these powers divested include command of the Armed Forces, which is where the real powers of the Head of State rest. He or the government communique also did not clarify how the new president of the Council of Ministers would be elected or selected.
