Togo Leader Gnassingbe Follows Father's Political Playbook

Lome, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Apr, 2024) When Togo's lawmakers passed a new constitution this month, opposition leaders quickly rejected the reform as another ploy by President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his family's more than five-decade grip on power.

The amended constitution creates a new role of president of the council of ministers, a position critics say is tailor-made for Gnassingbe to avoid presidential term limits and stay in office.

After several delays, Togolese go to the polls on Monday to elect new lawmakers, who opposition parties say will, under the new magna carta, almost certainly maintain the Gnassingbe political dynasty.

Gnassingbe was put in power by the military in 2005 when his father Gnassingbe Eyadema suddenly died after ruling for nearly four decades.

He was seen as a malleable 38-year-old but quickly consolidated himself at the helm of the small West African nation, sandwiched between Benin and Ghana.