After consultations and committee work, the 87 deputies present on April 19, 2024 at the National Assembly unanimously adopted the law establishing the Fifth Republic of Togo. This second reading clarified the powers of the President of the Republic at the time of the promulgation of the Constitution.
According to the report presented in plenary, the Law Commission reformulated article 97 as follows: “the powers of the President of the Republic in office at the time of the promulgation of the Constitution will only expire after the entry depending on the President of the Council and the election of the President of the Republic. The text specifies that “the first election of the President of the Republic and the first designation of the President of the Council after promulgation of this constitution take place from the establishment of the two chambers of parliament”.
Furthermore, “the majority party or the coalition of majority parties transmits in writing to the office of the National Assembly the name of the president of the council; the office of the National Assembly takes note of this designation and informs the plenary. This information is not followed by debate,” the text specifies.
The process of the second proofreading
In accordance with the provisions of article 67 of the constitution and those of article 102-1 of the internal regulations of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic referred the matter to the National Assembly at the end of a second reading of the law establishing the constitution of the 5th Togolese Republic adopted on March 25, 2024. Meeting on April 2, 2024, the Conference of Presidents, in compliance with the provisions and related provisions of the internal regulations, assigned to the Commission of Constitutional Laws competent in the matter, the request of the rereading of the said law. “The commission then met on April 12, 13 and 18, 2024 in the plenary room of the AN for a second reading of the law and for the adoption of the amendments. The work took place under the direction of the Honorable Tchitchao Tchalim, President of the Law Commission and in the presence of Pacôme Adjourouvi, Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship Training in charge of relations with the institutions of the Republic which participated in the work as a representative of the government,” we inform.
Indeed, this second reading, according to the Assembly, made it possible to take into account the concerns of all stakeholders, in the meantime listened to, with a view to ensuring an institutional, inclusive and participatory process which enriches the Constitution.
In fact, the revision enshrines changes in particular, the transition from the Fourth Republic to the Fifth Republic and that of the semi-presidential regime to the parliamentary regime. The parliamentary groups will play a leading role in presenting the candidates for the office of President of the Republic. The term of office of the President of the Republic is now 4 years, renewable once. Suggestions were also made in plenary to perfect the text. “In the previous text it was said that the president of the council comes from the leader of the majority party. We introduced a variant today where if you have a coalition made up of minority parties, you can propose a candidate,” explained Séna Alipui, MP for the Union of Forces for Change. “When you are president, you have all the powers. It is a way of decentralizing power to put it back in the hands of the institutions of the Republic. It is an improvement in governance, the fact of handing over power to parliamentarians. Improving governance is much more important than changing government,” he commented.
In short, with this new text which will come into force after promulgation, the National Assembly and the Senate will now have a leading role to play in the country.
Atha ASSAN