The Togolese cabinet has adopted a draft bill to modify the country’s constitution and reintroduce presidential term limits, the government announced on Wednesday.
The announcement comes following a recent spate of protests in the capital Lome in which at least two protestors were killed and a dozen gendarmes wounded.
“This bill to modify the constitution concerns specifically the limitations of mandates and voting procedures,” said the government statement, referring to article 59 of the constitution.
Togo has been ruled by the Gnassingbe dynasty for more than 50 years.
Current President Faure Gnassingbe has been in power in the West African country since the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, in 2005. Eyadema had been at the helm for 38 years.
In 1992, Togo’s parliament introduced presidential term limits after years of Gnassingbe Eyadema’s rule. Ten years later, lawmakers amended the constitution to enable him run for another term.
When he died, the military forcefully installed his son as interim president, instead of the head of the national assembly as was required by law.
Faure Gnassingbe was then elected later in 2005, though that victory triggered a violent security crackdown that killed around 500 people.
