Another attempt to impose presidential term limits in Togo

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Legislators in Togo are seeking a constitutional amendment to impose a two-term limit on the presidency. They made a similar attempt two years ago, in the run-up to the 2015 election. If history is a reliable guide, they will fail again.

Most Togolese citizens support presidential term limits. And yet their current president won his third term last year, after his father won five elections (two unopposed).

The current Togolese Constitution (of 1992) originally had a two-term limit. At the time, the president was in a position of relative weakness. By 2002, however, the president had consolidated power and the constitution was amended to eliminate term limits, so he could run for a third term in 2003.


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