{"id":1363,"date":"2024-04-23T10:59:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T10:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/?p=1363"},"modified":"2024-04-23T10:59:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T10:59:41","slug":"togo-approves-constitutional-reform-changing-how-president-is-elected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/23\/togo-approves-constitutional-reform-changing-how-president-is-elected\/","title":{"rendered":"Togo approves constitutional reform changing how president is elected"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lawmakers in Togo have approved changes to the constitution linked to presidential term limits and how presidents are elected, which some opposition politicians and civil society groups have denounced as a constitutional coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Togo\u2019s parliament had already adopted the amendments<\/a> on March 25, but the reforms led to an opposition backlash so President Faure Gnassingbe called for further consultations and a second parliamentary vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawmakers gave final approval to the reform late on Friday, just days before the April 29 legislative elections that had also been pushed back due to the issues around the constitutional amendments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second reading was passed with all 87 politicians present agreeing to the new system, under which the president will no longer be elected by universal suffrage, but by members of parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amendments also introduced a parliamentary system of government and shortened presidential terms to four years from five with a two-term limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It does not take into account the time already spent in office, which could enable Gnassingbe to stay in power until 2033 if he is re-elected in 2025, a highly likely scenario as his party controls parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those opposed to the changes fear they could allow further extensions of the president\u2019s 19-year rule and his family\u2019s grip on power. His father and predecessor Gnassingbe Eyadema seized power in the coastal West African country via a coup in 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement on Saturday, the Dynamique Pour la Majorit\u00e9 du Peuple (DMP) opposition coalition and other signatories said the constitutional changes were a political manoeuvre to allow Gnassingbe to extend his tenure for life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat happened at the National Assembly yesterday is a coup d\u2019etat,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLarge-scale action will be organised over the next few days to say \u2018no\u2019 to this constitution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Aljazeera<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dmedia News (Domajuosu Multimedia)<\/sub><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers in Togo have approved changes to the constitution linked to presidential term limits and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1.webp",636,424,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1-300x200.webp",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1.webp",636,424,false],"large":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1.webp",636,424,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1.webp",636,424,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1.webp",636,424,false],"shareaholic-thumbnail":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1.webp",636,424,false],"chromenews-featured":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1.webp",636,424,false],"chromenews-large":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1.webp",636,424,false],"chromenews-medium":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/togo-636x424-1-590x410.webp",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Babia Mubaric"]},"category_info":"General News<\/a> Politics<\/a>","tag_info":"Politics","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1365,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions\/1365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}