Faure Gnassingbé

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Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; born 6 June 1966)<ref name=Radio>"Biographie de nouveau président" Template:Webarchive, Radio Lome Template:In lang.</ref> is a Togolese politician who has served as first president of the Council of Ministers of Togo since the position was created in May 2025. He previously served as the fourth president from 2005 to 2025 and briefly served as the tenth president of the National Assembly. 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Following President Eyadéma's death in 2005, Gnassingbé was immediately installed as president with support from the army and he was also elected the president of the National Assembly to further legitimise his succession.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However, doubts regarding the constitutional legitimacy of the succession led to heavy regional pressure being placed on Gnassingbé, and he subsequently resigned on 25 February. He then won a controversial presidential election on 24 April, and was sworn in as president. In 2025, he assumed the position of president of the Council of Ministers after the presidency was converted to a ceremonial post.

BackgroundEdit

Born in Afagnan in Lacs Prefecture at the Hospital of the Brothers of the Order of Saint-Jean-de-Dieu d'Afagnan,<ref name=Radio/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé is of Kabye descent and is one of Gnassingbé Eyadéma's many children; his mother is Séna Sabine Mensah.<ref>"Yamgnane recalé" Template:Webarchive, Republicoftogo.com, 2 February 2010 Template:In lang.</ref> Gnassingbé received his secondary education in Lomé before studying in Paris at the Université Paris-Dauphine, where he received a degree in financial business management;<ref name=Ebow>Ebow Godwin, "Has Eyadema Now Found a Successor?" Template:Webarchive, Ghanaian Chronicle, August 14, 2003.</ref> he subsequently obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from The George Washington University in the United States.<ref name=Ebow/><ref name=Homme>"Un homme de dialogue et d’ouverture" Template:Webarchive, Republicoftogo.com, March 19, 2007 Template:In lang.</ref> He was elected to the National Assembly of Togo in the October 2002 parliamentary election as a Deputy for Blitta, and in the National Assembly he was coordinator of the commission in charge of privatization.Template:Citation needed On July 29, 2003, he was appointed as Minister of Equipment, Mines, Posts, and Telecommunications,<ref name=Ebow/><ref>List of governments of Togo, izf.net Template:In lang.</ref><ref>Monique Mas, "De la présidence Eyadéma à la dynastie Gnassingbé" Template:Webarchive, Radio France Internationale, February 7, 2005 Template:In lang.</ref> serving in that position until becoming president in February 2005.<ref name=Homme/>

Some in the opposition claimed that the amendment of the Constitution in December 2002, lowering the minimum age for the president from 45 years to 35 years, was intended to benefit Gnassingbé.<ref name=Ebow/> His appointment to the government in July 2003 came after he had already been appearing with his father at official functions<ref name=Min>"Togo: President appoints son as minister in new cabinet" Template:Webarchive, IRIN, July 30, 2003.</ref> and contributed to speculation that he was intended as his father's successor.<ref name=Ebow/><ref name=Min/>

Presidency (2005–2025)Edit

Assumption of power and legitimacyEdit

File:Faure Gnassingbé 29112006.jpg

Gnassingbé in 2006

Eyadéma died suddenly on 5 February 2005. According to the Togolese Constitution, after the president's death, the president of the National Assembly should become acting president. At the time of Eyadéma's death, National Assembly President Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba was out of the country, and Gnassingbé was sworn in as acting president to "ensure stability". Many believe that Natchaba did not want to come back to Togo due to fears of assassination by the Gnassingbé clan. The army wanted him to resign his position and allow Gnassingbé to legally take over. The African Union denounced Gnassingbé's assumption of power as a military coup.Template:Citation needed

File:Helen Clark and Faure Gnassingbe, UNDP.jpg

Helen Clark meeting with Gnassingbé in 2009

File:Président Faure Gnassingbé PND.jpg

Gnassingbé at the launch of the National Development Plan (PND) in 2019

A day after his father's death, the National Assembly received clear instructions to dismiss Natchaba and elect Gnassingbé in his place, which would legalize his succession, which took place on 6 February 2005.<ref name="assemblypresidents">Les Anciens Présidents de l'Assemblée Nationale - ..::Assemblée Nationale Togolaise::</ref> Gnassingbé's election was unanimously approved by the deputies (98% of them were members of the ruling party) who were present in the National Assembly at the time; the opposition was not represented in the National Assembly due to its boycott of the 2002 parliamentary election. The members of Gnassingbé's party did not want to challenge the army's choice.Template:Citation needed The parliament also eliminated a constitutional requirement that elections be held within 60 days of the president's death, enabling the younger Gnassingbé to rule until the expiration of his father's term in 2008.<ref>"Togo deputies legitimise 'coup'" Template:Webarchive, BBC News, February 7, 2005.</ref>

Under pressure from others in the region, and particularly Nigeria, later in February 2005, Gnassingbé announced that new elections would be held within 60 days, but said that he would remain in office in the meantime. However, on February 21, the National Assembly reversed some of the constitutional changes that it had made so as to allow Gnassingbé to assume power, although it did not instruct him to resign. This was construed as a way of pressuring him to stand down with dignity. To change the constitution during a period of transition was itself an unconstitutional act, but this did not deter Gnassingbé's allies.Template:Citation needed On February 25, Gnassingbé was nominated by delegates of the ruling party, the Rally for the Togolese People, as the party's presidential candidate. He was also chosen as head of the party. Shortly afterwards, he announced that he would step down as president during the interim period. Bonfoh Abass was appointed by the National Assembly to replace him until the election on April 24, 2005. Bonfoh was considered by some to be a puppet of the military elite and the Gnassingbé family. Gnassingbé competed with the main opposition candidate, Emmanuel Bob-Akitani, a retired engineer of the state-owned mining company and the second most important person in the opposition coalition after Gilchrist Olympio. Olympio could not take part in the election, since the constitution required that any candidate must have lived for at least 12 months in Togo, and Olympio had been in self-imposed exile for fear that he would be murdered by the Eyadema clan like his father.

In the election, Gnassingbé received slightly more than 60% of the votes, according to official results. The RPT refused to allow oversight during the counting of the ballots. The EU and the Carter Center deemed the elections to be fraudulent. Mass protests by the coalition of opposition parties led to the killing of over 1,000 citizens by security forces.<ref>29 August 2005. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). "Conclusions.""La mission d'établissement des faits chargée de faire la lumière sur les violences et les allégations de violations des droits de l'homme survenues au Togo avant, pendant et après l'élection présidentielle du 24 avril 2005" Template:Webarchive</ref> 40,000 refugees fled to neighboring Benin and Ghana.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Later electionsEdit

Gnassingbé was re-elected for a second term in 2010. In the April 2015 presidential election, Gnassingbé won a third term, defeating his main challenger, Jean-Pierre Fabre, by a margin of about 59% to 35%, according to official results.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the February 2020 presidential elections, Gnassingbé won his fourth presidential term in office as the president of Togo.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to the official result, he won with a margin of around 72% of the vote share.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This enabled him to defeat his closest challenger, the former prime minister Agbeyome Kodjo who had 18%.<ref name=":0" /> The legitimacy of elections in Togo was widely disputed.

CorruptionEdit

The phosphates sector – accounting for 40% of export revenues – is managed at the office of the president, and Abdi Latif Dahir, based on the Panama Papers, stated that contracts and permits to manage the sector are sold to benefit the president.<ref name="phosph">Template:Cite news</ref>

Economic and fiscal policyEdit

Since improving the economy of Togo, he has mobilized 12 billion 860 million CFA francs in order for construction of National No. 2. He also reconstructed the nations infrastructure by progressing steps with the Togblécopé and Amakpapé bridges being completed, which is why he had an agenda to develop the country in where he announced in Belgium.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Protests and term limitEdit

File:Protest against Faure Gnassingbe in Belgium.jpg

Anti-Gnassingbé protesters in Belgium

In 2019, the Parliament of Togo approved a new bill that allowed Gnassingbé to stay in office until 2030. Despite that, many protests took place in the streets calling for the end of the dynasty ruling for 50+ years.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Foreign relationsEdit

On 18 June 2013, he met with Fra’ Matthew Festing, the Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, where they talked about humanitarianism, Gnassingbé's efforts to improve Togo's humanitarian contributions in his presidency.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2010, Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama congratulated Gnassingbé for winning that year's presidential election. In 2023, Gnassingbé met Fumio Kishida in the Japan-Togo summit meeting where Kishida expressed his support for Gnassingbé for visiting the funeral of Shinzo Abe.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2025, Gnassingbé was selected as a mediator by the African Union to replace Angolan president João Lourenço in resolving the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

President of the Council of Ministers of Togo (2025–present)Edit

In 2024, Togo's parliament approved changes to the constitution which converted the country's presidential system to a parliamentary republic, creating a new office known as the President of the Council of Ministers, which would remain the most powerful position in the government with no term limits.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The new form of government was known as the Fifth Republic of Togo.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 3 May 2025, Gnassingbé was sworn in as President of the Council of Ministers, with Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové being elected by parliament to succeed him as President of the Republic under a ceremonial capacity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>