African leaders amend laws to stay in power

Today’s controversial referendum in the Comoros could allow its president, Azali Assoumani, to seek re-election and retain power beyond 2021, when his currently non-renewable term would otherwise end.

Several other African leaders have also sought to hang on to power through changes to the constitution.

Here are some examples:

● In Rwanda, voters in 2015 overwhelmingly backed a referendum that removed term limits from the constitution, allowing President Paul Kagame – in power since 1994 – to po- tentially rule until 2034.

●The same year the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) voted by a landslide on constitutional changes that would allow veteran ruler Denis Sassou Nguesso to run for a third term. He was re-elected in 2016.

● In Zimbabwe a new constitution adopted in 2013 let Robert Mugabe stand in another election, which he won. He was forced to step down in 2017, after 37 years in power.

● Chad’s Idriss Deby Itno has been in power since 1990 thanks to a constitutional revision in 2005 that was adopted after a disputed referendum.

● In Uganda, also in 2005, a constitutional reform scrapped limits on presidential terms. Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, was re-elected to a fifth term in 2016.

● In Togo in 2002 a constitutional amendment allowing the president to seek reelection without limit paved the way for Gnassingbe Eyadema, in power since 1967, to win another term.

When he died in 2005, his son Faure Gnassingbe took over and has since won three contested elections. The opposition is seeking a return to a two-term limit.