Elective Dictatorship: The Problem With Togo’s New Constitution
Faure Gnassingbé’s presidency in Togo began in 2005 following a military coup. He was not elected into office. He was installed in power by the military and he has remained in power since 2005. It is important to understand this background to Faure’s presidency because he was not legitimately elected into office. He came to office via force and has used force to remain in office ever since.
The most recent constitution in Togo is the latest move by Faure to consolidate his power so that he can remain in office for life just as his father did. This move is especially concerning not only because it’s a blatant attempt to undermine democracy in Togo to ensure that Faure remains in power even longer, but Togo is adopting a parliamentary system which can be used to further empower his dictatorship.
In a parliamentary system, the head of government is elected not through a general election by the citizens. The head of government is selected by members of parliament. The members of parliament are themselves elected by the citizens during a general election and the party which has the most seats in parliament is the party which gets control of the government and is able to select their party leader to run the executive branch.
In a parliamentary system, democratic representation comes from the ability of citizens to elect the ruling party and this party in turn selects the head of government. Parliamentary systems are not inherently authoritarian in of themselves, but such a system can be utilized by authoritarian regimes to establish dominance. This is because parliamentary systems ensure that a single party controls the executive and legislative branches of government.
In the American model, which is a presidential system rather than a parliamentary system, members of Congress and the president are elected separately by the American people. This can result in situations in which the president may be a Democrat, but Congress is led by Republicans. In other words, there is no guarantee that one party will be able to control all levels of government because the executive branch and the legislative branch are separate. This can be used to serve as a check against the executive branch, although in the American model this has caused the problem of creating political gridlock in which little can be done because of the political conflict between the executive and legislative branches.
The parliamentary model does not create such a separation between the two branches, which can very quickly result in the complete dominance of one party over the government. In the United Kingdom, Lord Hailsham popularized the term “elective dictatorship” to describe what he saw as a reduction of checks and balances. The checks and balances in a parliamentary system are that the legislature can dismiss the head of government for poor performance. This is done through a motion of no confidence. Elective dictatorships develop in parliamentary systems when loyalty to the party takes precedence over the effective performance of the executive branch.
The Union for the Republic (UNIR) was already the dominant party in Togo, but this new constitutional change now effectively makes the Togolese government subordinate to the UNIR because the UNIR now exercises even greater control over Togo’s government than before. It is no longer the people of Togo who elect the president. Of course, the Togolese people did not have much say in elections to begin with given that Togo does not have fair and free elections, as well the regular practice of suppressing dissent in Togo. This new constitution will only serve to embolden the dictatorship in Togo and further entrench the dominance of the UNIR party. The new constitution has effectively created an elective dictatorship in Togo.
