Togo: Autographed a controversial and veraciously condemned new order Marshalling the Abolition of Presidential Elections

By Abdul Rahman Bangura-

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone– The current constitution of Togo under the watch of President Faure Gnassingbe has banned Presidential Elections in Togo; a circumstance that will see him stay on power and reach their six-decade-long rule.

A certain release from the President’s office on past Monday noted that, under the new legislation, only the parliament will have the power to select the president, eliminating direct elections.

Media sources revealed that, the election commission on Saturday announced that Gnassingbe’s ruling party had won a majority of seats in the nation’s parliament. The report released that there was a crackdown on civic and media freedoms ahead of the vote, as the administration disallowed protests against the proposed new constitution and arrested opposition figures. Same, the electoral commission banned the Catholic Church from deploying election observers.

In mid-April, a French correspondent who arrived to cover the elections was arrested, assaulted and expelled. Togo’s media regulator later suspended the accreditation process for foreign journalists.

Provisional results showed the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party won 108 out of 113 seats in parliament, and 137 out of 179 positions in the senate.

The new constitution similarly adds presidential terms from five to six years and introduces a single-term limit.

Thus, the nearly 20 years that Gnassingbe has virtually served in office would not count toward that tally. Togo has been ruled by the same family for 57 years, originally by Eyadema Gnassingbe and then by his son, Faure Gnassingbe, who took office after elections that the opposition described as a “sham.”

The political opposition, religious leaders and civil society say the proposed new constitution makes it absolutely that, Gnassingbe will stay on when his mandate expires in 2025. They equally having the motion that, the creation of a figure similar to a prime minister, to be selected from the ruling party, could become another drive for Gnassingbe to extend his stay on power even beyond that new term.

New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports, Africa Correspondent