Togolese lawmakers adopted a new constitution on Monday, moving the country from a presidential to a parliamentary system and giving parliament the power to elect the president of the small West African country.
The president will be chosen “without debate” by lawmakers “for a single six-year term”, and not by the public, according to the new text.
The vote comes less than a month before the next legislative elections in Togo, but it is not yet known when the change — which was approved with 89 votes in favour, one against and one abstention — will come into force.
Currently, the president can serve a maximum of two five-year terms.
The change to the constitution, proposed by a group of lawmakers mostly from the Union for the Republic (UNIR) ruling party, was adopted almost unanimously.
The country’s opposition, which boycotted the last legislative elections in 2018 and denounced…
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