Is Togo's 'constitutional coup' a blueprint for dictators? – DW – 08/08/2025

DW

2 days ago

Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe has cemented his power by creating a new position. Political observers say Africa's other long-time rulers could replicate the move in a bid to prolong their leadership.
In May, President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo stepped down from his post. Since then, Jean-Lucien Savi de Tove has been president. But Gnassingbe has not relinquished power. Instead, he is now president of the Council of Ministers, a new body created following a constitutional amendment. Most of Gnassingbe's previous presidential powers have been transferred to his new position, leaving President de Tove serving as a ceremonial head of state.
The opposition and civil rights activists call it a "constitutional coup"—because Gnassingbe's new position is not elected, but appointed by the strongest faction in parliament. Gnassingbe's UNIR party (Union for the Republic) has a comfortable majority there. There are no term limits, and Gnassingbe could rule indefinitely without ever having to stand for direct election again.
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"That is really the biggest problem because the recent riot that happened in the country was not just about the arrest of the people, it was simply becausepeople are fed up with this family which is controlling the country for more than 50 years now," Pape Ibrahima Kane, director of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in Dakar, told DW.
He said the Gnassingbe family wields control over all aspects of Togo's governance structures, including the parliament.
The Togolese government has disregarded the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, Kane added. The Charter, signed off by the African Union (AU) in 2007, came into effect in 2012. The document says member states should aim, through regular, free and fair elections, to legitimize representative government and democratic transfers of power.
However, the charter has so far had no impact on the balance of power in Togo, where the Gnassingbe family has ruled the country for 58 years. Faure Gnassingbe took power in 2005 from his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had ruled for almost four decades. With his latest move, he has further consolidated power.
"This is undoubtedly a terrible development for the Togolese people," Fredson Guilenge of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Johannesburg, told DW.
Observers fear Gnassingbe might just be the first African leader to use a constitutional amendment to cement their power without having to answer the electorate. "That fact that it will inspire other leaders to change the constitution in order to maintain themselves in power is a worrying truth," Togolese human rights lawyer Esso-Dong Divin Aymard Kongah said.
"This is a worrying trend regarding democracy, human rights, and civic space, because all this is leading to a shrinking civic space where people are having less and less power to influence the way public affairs are being done," he told DW.
Gnassingbe's political move is nothing new. Several other African leaders have sought to change the constitution to remain in power.
President Faustin-Archange Touadera had the constitution amended so he could run for a third term in the Central African Republic's late 2025 election. In January 2026, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, 80, will seek to be re-elected for the seventh time, after he pushed for the removal of age limits for presidential candidates in 2017. Cameroon's 92-year-old President Paul Biya is aiming for an eighth term, at the end of which he would be 99 years old.
President Denis Sassou-Nguesso has ruled the Republic of Congo for 41 years. Ivory Coast heads to the polls in October 2025, where 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara has announced another election bid, after he too sought a constitutional amendment, which began in 2016.
The world's longest-serving head of state is Equatorial Guinea's 83-year-old Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Widely regarded by political analysts, international watchdogs, and rights activists as a dictator, Nguema has been in office since 1979.
Systemic repression of the opposition in those countries has allowed their leaders to hold on to power. When younger generations demand political change, protests are violently crushed. In Togo, at least seven people were killed when demonstrators demanded the government's resignation over the constitutional amendment and a disputed local election. Human rights organizations have for years accused the Togolese state of repressing freedom of speech and gatherings.
Fredson Guilenge warns that events in Togo may have been inspired by the rise of the junta-led governments of the Sahel countries. Between 2020 and 2023, there were six military coups in West Africa. The military rulers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have chosen to work with Russia over former colonial power France.
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While the junta governments have not ruled out a return to civilian rule and democracy, efforts to establish a transition have not materialized, says Guilenge. For instance, in July, Mali's leader Assimi Goita gave himself a five-year leadership extensionwithout the prospects of an election.
Similar moves might be tempting for countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, or Equatorial Guinea, Guilenge told DW. But he says the risk varies across the continent. A further threat to liberal democracy, he adds, is the current global context, which has seen the erosion of democracy and multilateralism. "The world is becoming so divided, which might allow leaders to operate without major pressure when it comes to their undemocratic decisions."