List of Presidents of Togo

Last updated
President of the
Togolese Republic
Président de la
République togolaise
Emblem of Togo.svg
Faure Gnassingbe 2014.png
Incumbent
Faure Gnassingbé

since 4 May 2005
Residence Palace of the Governors, Lomé
Term length 5 years
Inaugural holder Sylvanus Olympio
Formation27 April 1960
Emblem of Togo.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Togo
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This is a list of Presidents of Togo since the formation of the post of President in 1960, to the present day.

The president is a common title for the head of state in most republics. In politics, president is a title given to leaders of republican states.

Togo country in Africa

Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. The sovereign state extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital Lomé is located. Togo covers 57,000 square kilometres, making it one of the smallest countries in Africa, with a population of approximately 7.6 million.

Contents

A total of four people have served as President (not counting one Acting President and two interim military officeholders). Additionally, one person, Faure Gnassingbé, has served on two non-consecutive occasions.

Faure Gnassingbé Togolese politician

Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé Eyadéma is a Togolese politician who has been the President of Togo since 2005. Before assuming the presidency, he was appointed by his father, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, as Minister of Equipment, Mines, Posts, and Telecommunications, serving from 2003 to 2005.

Description of the office

Election

The President of the Republic is elected by universal, direct and secret suffrage for a mandate of five (05) years. [1]

He is re-eligible. [1]

The election of the President of the Republic takes place by uninominal majority ballot in one (01) round. [2]

The President of the Republic is elected with the majority of the suffrage expressed. [2]

The vote is opened on convocation of the electoral body by decree taken in the Council of Ministers sixty (60) days at least and seventy-five (75) days at most before the expiration of the mandate of the President in office. [3]

No one may be a candidate for the office of the President of the Republic if they: [4]

  1. are not exclusively of Togolese nationality by birth;
  2. are not thirty-five (35) years of age on the date of the deposit of the candidature;
  3. do not enjoy all their civil and political rights;
  4. do not present a general state of physical and mental well-being duly declared by three (03) sworn physicians, designated by the Constitutional Court;
  5. do not reside in the national territory for at least twelve (12) months.

The President of the Republic enters office within the fifteen days which follow the proclamation of the results of the presidential election. [5]

Oath of office

Before his entry into office, the President of the Republic swears before the Constitutional Court meeting in solemn hearing, in these terms: [6]

Before God and before the Togolese people, sole holders of popular sovereignty, We _____, elected President of the Republic in accordance with the laws of the Republic, solemnly swear.

— to respect and to defend the Constitution that the Togolese people have freely given themselves;

— to loyally fulfill the high functions that the Nation has confided in us.

— to be guided solely by the general interest and the respect of the rights of the human person, to consecrate all our forces to the promotion of development, of the common good, of peace and of national unity;

— to preserve the integrity of the national territory;

— to conduct our self at all times, as a faithful and loyal servant of the People.

Vacancy

In case of a vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic by death, resignation or definitive incapacity, the presidential function is exercised provisionally by the President of the National Assembly. [7]

The vacancy is declared by the Constitutional Court referred to [the matter] by the Government. [7]

The Government convokes the electoral body within the sixty (60) days of the opening of the vacancy for the election of a new President of the Republic. [7]

Key

Political parties
Other factions
Status

List

No.President
(Birth–Death)
PortraitTenureElectedPolitical affiliation Prime Minister(s)
Took officeLeft office
1 Sylvanus Olympio
(1902–1963)
Sylvanus Olympio.jpg 27 April 196013 January 1963
(assassinated.)
1961 CUT Himself
2 Emmanuel Bodjollé
(1928–) [lower-alpha 1]
No image.png 13 January 196315 January 1963 Military Position abolished
3 Nicolas Grunitzky
(1913–1969)
TOGO PRES. NICOLAS GRUNITSKY - CROPPED.jpg 16 January 196313 January 1967
(deposed.)
1963 MPT Position abolished
4 Kléber Dadjo
(1914–1988/89) [lower-alpha 2]
No image.png 16 January 196714 April 1967 Military Position abolished
5 Gnassingbé Eyadéma
(1935–2005) [lower-alpha 3]
Gnassingbe Eyadema detail2 DF-SC-84-10025.jpg 14 April 19675 February 2005
(died in office.)
1972
1979
1986
1993
1998
2003
Military / RPT Koffigoh
E. Kodjo
Klutse
Adoboli
A. Kodjo
Sama
6 Faure Gnassingbé
(1966–) [lower-alpha 4]
Faure Gnassingbe 2014.png 5 February 2005 [lower-alpha 5] 25 February 2005
(resigned.) [lower-alpha 6]
2005 RPT Sama
7 Bonfoh Abass
(1948–) [lower-alpha 7]
No image.png 25 February 20054 May 2005 2005 RPT Sama
( 6) Faure Gnassingbé
(1966–) [lower-alpha 4]
Faure Gnassingbe 2014.png 4 May 2005Incumbent 2005
2010
2015
RPT / UNIR Sama
E. Kodjo
Agboyibo
Mally
Houngbo
Ahoomey-Zunu
Klassou

Notes

  1. Styled as Chairman of the Insurrection Committee.
  2. Styled as Chairman of the National Reconciliation Committee.
  3. Previously named Étienne Eyadéma; changed name on 8 May 1974 due to the policy of Africanization, and to commemorate survival of a crash of his Douglas C-47 Skytrain presidential plane on 24 January 1974.
  4. 1 2 Son of Gnassingbé Eyadéma.
  5. Proclaimed President by General Zakari Nandja, Chief of Staff of the Togolese Armed Forces, and confirmed by the National Assembly.
  6. Stepped down due to heavy regional pressure, caused over doubts regarding the constitutional legitimacy of his succession.
  7. Succeeded Eyadéma as the constitutional successor, President of the National Assembly.

Latest election

CandidatePartyVotes%
Faure Gnassingbé Union for the Republic 1,221,75658.75
Jean-Pierre Fabre National Alliance for Change 732,02635.21
Tchaboure Gogue Alliance of Democrats for Integral Development 83,8034.03
Komandega Tamaa New Togolese Commitment 21,5811.04
Mohamed Tchassona-Traoré Citizens' Movement for Democracy and Development 20,0640.96
Invalid/blank votes58,813
Total2,138,438100
Registered voters/turnout3,509,25860.92
Source: Constitutional Court

See also

Related Research Articles

The history of Togo can be traced to archaeological finds which indicate that ancient local tribes were able to produce pottery and process iron. During the period from the 11th century to the 16th century, the Ewé, the Mina, the Gun, and various other tribes entered the region. Most of them settled in coastal areas. The Portuguese arrived in the late 15th century, followed by other European powers. Until the 19th century, the coastal region was a major slave trade centre, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast".

Politics of Togo

Politics of Togo takes place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of Togo is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. Since independence the party system is dominated by the authoritarian Rally for the Togolese People.

Gnassingbé Eyadéma 20th and 21st-century President of Togo

Gnassingbé Eyadéma was the President of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005. He participated in two successful military coups, in January 1963 and January 1967, and became President on April 14, 1967.

Elections in Togo

Elections in Togo take place within the framework of a presidential system. Both the President and the National Assembly are directly elected by voters. The country is a one party dominant state with the Union for the Republic in power.

2005 Togolese presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Togo on 24 April 2005, following the death in office of long-time president Gnassingbé Eyadéma. The main candidates were Eyadéma's son, Faure Gnassingbé, and opposition leader Emmanuel Bob-Akitani. The elections and the preceding period were marked by violence, with many people reported killed in various incidents. According to the official results, Gnassingbé won the election, taking slightly more than 60% of the vote. Violence flared in the capital Lomé after the results were announced, and thousands fled into neighboring countries.

Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba is a Togolese politician. He was the President of the National Assembly of Togo from 2000 to 2005. He is a prominent member of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) and is a member of the Pan-African Parliament representing Togo.

Nicolas Grunitzky Togolese President

Nicolas Grunitzky was the second president of Togo and its third head of state. He was President from 1963 to 1967. Grunitzky was Prime Minister of Togo from 1956 to 1958 under the French Colonial loi cadre system, which created a limited "national" government in their colonial possessions. He was elected Prime Minister of Togo —still under French administration— in 1956. Following the 1963 coup which killed his nationalist political rival Sylvanus Olympio, Grunitzky was chosen by the military committee of coup leaders to be Togo's second President.

Gilchrist Olympio is a Togolese politician who was a long-time opponent of the regime of Gnassingbe Eyadema and was President of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC), Togo's main opposition party from the 1990s til 2013. Olympio is the son of Sylvanus Olympio, Togo's first President, who was assassinated in a 1963 coup. He is now an ally of the current regime of Faure Gnassingbe, the son of the late President.

The Rally of the Togolese People was the ruling political party in Togo from 1969 to 2012. It was founded by President Gnassingbé Eyadéma and headed by his son, President Faure Gnassingbé, after the former's death in 2005. Faure Gnassingbé replaced the RPT with a new ruling party, the Union for the Republic (UNIR), in April 2012, dissolving the RPT.

Joseph Kokou Koffigoh is a Togolese politician, human rights activist, and a poet who served as Prime Minister of Togo from 27 August 1991 to 25 April 1994. Elected as Prime Minister by the opposition-dominated National Conference in 1991, Koffigoh was given full executive powers and tasked with overseeing a transition to multiparty elections. Beginning in December 1991, however, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma increasingly reasserted his authority at Koffigoh's expense. Although Koffigoh remained in office, the opposition eventually abandoned him, feeling he had become too cooperative with Eyadéma.

Yawovi Madji Agboyibo is a Togolese politician. He served as Prime Minister of Togo from September 2006 to December 2007 and was National President of the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR), an opposition political party, from 1991 to 2008. He is the Honorary President of the CAR.

1998 Togolese presidential election

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March 2000 passed without presidential action. New legislative elections were ultimately rescheduled for October 2001. Because of funding problems and disagreements between the government and opposition, the elections were again delayed, this time until March 2002.

Dama Dramani is a Togolese politician who has been President of the National Assembly of Togo since 2013. He was Secretary-General of the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), the ruling party, from 2003 to 2006, and following the 2007 parliamentary election he was President of the RPT Parliamentary Group in the National Assembly.

1979 Togolese general election

General elections were held in Togo on 30 December 1979, alongside a constitutional referendum that confirmed the country's status as a one-party state. Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who had led a coup in 1967, was elected President unopposed, whilst the Rally of the Togolese People won all 67 seats in the National Assembly as its list of 67 candidates was approved by voters. Voter turnout was reported to be 99.3% in the parliamentary election and 99.4% in the presidential election.

Protests against Faure Gnassingbé political protests against Faure Gnassingbé

Protests against Faure Gnassingbé have occurred throughout Togo starting when Faure Gnassingbé assumed power after the death of his father Gnassingbé Eyadéma in February 2005.

1967 Togolese coup détat 1967 coup in Togo

The 1967 Togolese coup d'état was a bloodless military coup that occurred in the West African country of Togo on 13 January 1967. The leader of the coup, Lieutenant Colonel Étienne Eyadéma ousted Togo's second President, Nicolas Grunitzky, whom he essentially brought to power following the 1963 coup d'état.

References

  1. 1 2 Article 59 of the Constitution of 1992.
  2. 1 2 Article 60 of the Constitution of 1992.
  3. Article 61 of the Constitution of 1992.
  4. Article 62 of the Constitution of 1992.
  5. Article 63 of the Constitution of 1992.
  6. Article 64 of the Constitution of 1992.
  7. 1 2 3 Article 65 of the Constitution of 1992.