Thirteen political parties and civil society organizations in Togo have filed an appeal before the Court of Justice of the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to demand the withdrawal of the country’s new Constitution, according to documents consulted by AFP.
ECOWAS confirmed to AFP that it had received this request for referral filed on April 18, the day after the final adoption of the new Constitution by Togolese deputies, and while legislative and regional elections are scheduled for April 29.
Among the applicants are several opposition parties, including the National Alliance for Change (ANC), the Alliance of Democrats for Integral Development (ADDI) or the Democratic Forces for the Republic (FDR) and associations such as the Ligue Togolese for Human Rights or the Association of Victims of Torture in Togo (Asvitto).
They ask the Court of Justice of the regional institution to “condemn the Republic of Togo” for having changed its Constitution, and to “purely withdraw the law on constitutional change”.
The opposition fears that the new text will allow the extension at the head of the country of President Faure Gnassingbé, in power since 2005 following his father himself who remained at the helm of the State for almost 38 years.
Under the terms of the new Constitution, which switches the country from a presidential regime to a parliamentary regime, the president will be elected for a four-year term, renewable once, by the deputies and no longer by the people – the next direct vote was planned for 2025.
Power will now reside in the hands of a sort of super-Prime Minister who will necessarily be “the leader of the majority party” in the National Assembly. The leader of the winning party in the April 29 elections will be appointed to this new position.
The president of the majority party currently in the Assembly, the Union for the Republic (UNIR), is none other than Faure Gnassingbé.
In their request to ECOWAS, the applicants consider that the constitutional reform “was made in the absence of a prior public debate and a political consensus”, which undermines “democracy and good governance”.
They claim to have “been victims of violations of their rights by the State of Togo”, which banned demonstrations planned by the opposition.
On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court of Togo rejected the request of two opposition parties (NET and PDP) who asked it to rule on the new Constitution.
Togolese historian Michel Goeh-Akue, close to the opposition, told AFP that the opposition was not deluding itself by making this approach to ECOWAS, which according to him had become “an empty shell and an overused institution.
In December, the ECOWAS Court of Justice, seized by the lawyers of Mohamed Bazoum, president of Niger deposed by the military coup of July 2023, ordered the release of the former Nigerien head of state as well as his return to power.
A decision which has not been implemented to date, with the military in power in Niamey still opposing the release of Mohamed Bazoum.
