Presidential Election - 2020
The president's father Gnassingbe Eyadema seized power in a coup in 1967 and ruled for 38 years before his death. In response to protests, he introduced a 1992 constitution that brought in multi-party democracy and limited presidential terms to two. Ten years later, lawmakers scrapped the term limit so Eyadema could run for another term. However, ever since Gambian long-time leader Yahya Jammeh was forced out after losing an election in December 2016, West African countries have become unanimous in accepting two terms as the limit on presidential office - the only exception being Togo.
The United Nations urged Togo to respond to people's "legitimate expectations" as police clashed with protesters demanding an end to the 50-year ruling family dynasty for a third day on 08 September 2017. Thousands of people had taken to the streets since 06 September to demand that President Faure Gnassingbe step aside in the biggest challenge to his family's power since the death of his father in 2005. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the UN Special Envoy for West Africa and the Sahel, called on all parties "to preserve peace and security, which are valuable assets in West Africa". Chambas, who met with Gnassingbe, delayed his departure and is staying in Togo for further discussions, his spokesman said. "I remain convinced that all parties want to move forward on the reforms... in order to reach a consensus to respond to the legitimate expectations of the Togolese people," Chambas said in a statement.
The president was re-elected in 2010 and 2015, although the opposition rejected the results. The current president, who encouraged investment to try to turn his tiny nation into a business, banking and shipping hub modelled on Singapore or Dubai, sought to appease opponents by tabling a draft bill to reform the constitution and reintroduce a two-term limit. But opposition leaders reject it because it could still enable Gnassingbe to rule until 2030.
Togo's parliament approved a constitutional change 09 May 2019 permitting long-standing President Faure Gnassingbe to potentially stay in office until 2030, despite widespread protests calling for the end of his family's decades-long grip on power. The amendment capped the presidential mandate to two five-year terms but does not apply retrospectively, meaning Gnassingbe can stand for the next two elections, in 2020 and 2025, despite having already served three terms since succeeding his late father 14 years ago.
"The president of the republic is elected by universal suffrage ... for a term of five years, renewable once," the new text of the Constitution read, which also made the presidential election a two-round race. The amendment was signed off on by all 90 legislators present, surpassing the required four-fifths approval by parliament to make such changes. One other legislator was absent. Another change passed by the National Assembly guaranteed immunity for life to all former presidents, who the new constitutional terms said cannot be "prosecuted, arrested, detained, or tried for acts committed during their presidential term".
Gnassingbe's Union for the Republic party holds two-thirds of the seats in parliament. The main opposition boycotted legislative elections in December, in part because of the dispute over term limits, leaving them without seats in parliament and powerless to vote against the amendments. Legislators also changed the rules for their own mandate, meaning they can now hold their seats for two terms of six years each. Before, they had a mandate of five years but with an unlimited number of terms.
Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson, coordinator of the opposition coalition, said she was "shocked" by the changes. "He (Gnassingbe) has showed the Togolese people that the only thing that worries him is to stay in power," she told reporters on Thursday in the capital, Lome.
Deadly clashes erupted over the proposed constitutional changes in 2017 after security forces cracked down on demonstrators calling for Gnassingbe's resignation - echoing a mass movement against his first appointment in 2005 during which at least 500 people were killed. Opponents of the president, whose father seized power in a 1967 coup, have sought term limits and other constitutional reforms since then to align the former French colony with most of its West African neighbors.
Gnassingbe won a fourth term in power, the national electoral commission declared on 24 February 2020, as his main rival accused authorities of fraud. The incumbent leader took 72 percent of the vote share in the first round of the presidential election, the commission said, far ahead of former prime minister Agbeyome Kodjo, with 18 percent. The widely expected win extended more than a half century of dynastic rule over the former French colony by Gnassingbe's family despite broad disillusionment over its failure to drag many out of poverty.
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