In Togo, the electoral calendar is turned upside down again. After more than a week of political turmoil while the opposition and civil society contest a draft new Constitution adopted in the Assembly, President Faure Gnassingbé announced, Wednesday April 3, a new postponement of the legislative and regional elections, without giving a new date. These polls were supposed to be held in December, then were announced for April 12 before being postponed to April 20.

“The government will carry out a slight rearrangement of the calendar of legislative and regional elections,” said the press release from the presidency, also read on state television.

On March 25, Togolese deputies adopted a new Constitution aimed at moving the country from a presidential system to a parliamentary system.

This reform was strongly contested by the opposition and civil society, who see it as a maneuver by the president to stay in power, which pushed the head of state to request a new vote by deputies a few days later.

The postponement of the elections follows "the request of the Head of State to carry out a second reading of the constitutional revision law passed on March 25 with a view to a new deliberation by the National Assembly", explained the presidency Wednesday.

Under the new Constitution, it is up to the Togolese Parliament to elect the President of the Republic (who is deprived of any prerogative), "without debate" and "for a single mandate of six years".

Under the terms of the new text, power will reside in the hands of a “president of the Council of Ministers”, a sort of Prime Minister “designated” by the deputies, in charge of sovereign functions. His mandate must be six years, without it being specified whether it will be renewable or not.

“Citizen’s call” from civil society

It is this point which worries the opposition, which fears that Faure Gnassingbé will be appointed to this function, ensuring his retention in power for an indefinite period.

The opposition, which boycotted the last legislative elections in 2018, plans to mobilize massively for the vote this year.

In addition to the opposition, the constitutional reform project was strongly criticized by civil society.

The day after the vote of the deputies, the Conference of Bishops of Togo questioned, in a press release, the "opportunity or not" of carrying out this reform and the "time chosen", and it called on the president to "suspend the promulgation of the new Constitution and to initiate an inclusive political dialogue, after the results of the next legislative and regional elections".

On Friday, nearly a hundred academics, intellectuals, artists, political figures and civil society actors signed a "citizen appeal" asking the Togolese to "mobilize" to "reject this betrayal" and to President Gnassingbé "to "stop the ongoing process for the good of our country".

Faure Gnassingbé succeeded his father in 2005, who had held the country with an iron fist for nearly 38 years.

In Togo, all presidential elections organized since the advent of democracy in 1990 have been contested by the opposition, with waves of violence, notably during the presidential election of April 2005.

Faure Gnassingbé was re-elected in 2010, 2015 and 2020, in elections always contested by the opposition.

With AFP

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