Category: term limits
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A Victory for Term Limits in Senegal
President Abdoulaye Wade has conceded defeat in today’s runoff election in Senegal. He called his rival, former Prime Minister Macky Sall. Wade’s manipulation of the constitution, which we’ve previously commented on here, had led to deadly protests in Dakar over the past two months.
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Senegal: Court Clears Wade for Third Term
Yesterday, Senegal’s Constitutional Council ruled that President Abdoulaye Wade can run for a third term, and that popular musician Youssou N’Dour could not run. Riots erupted, leaving a policeman dead. As we described earlier, Wade is relying on a somewhat tortured, though not insane, reading of the constitutional scheme as amended since he acscended to…
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Senegal: will the Arab Spring travel South?
President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal has been talking about modifying the Constitution to extend his term in office, joining a long series of African “democrats” who came in as reformers but found presidential trappings to be quite comfortable. Wade, who was a longtime opposition leader, was originally elected to a seven year term, renewable once,…
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Egypt’s amendments announced
Egypt’s eight-member committee charged with drafting constitutional amendments has announced their proposals. Originally tasked with modifying six provisions, they instead called for eight amendments. [An excellent discussion of the issues at stake, featuring our contributor Tamir Moustafa, can be found here.
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Whither constitutions in 2011?
The turning of the year provides an opportunity to look back at 2010 and ahead at 2011. One of the big themes in 2010 was executive attempts to extend their stay in office: we observed various strategies in Georgia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and elsewhere.
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Sri Lanka and Executive Self Dealing
The Sri Lankan parliament voted on Wednesday to approve the 18th amendment to their constitution, which strikes down the 2-term limit on presidential re-election. We’ve all seen this movie before. Critics responded by characterizing the amendment as a step towards authoritarianism, since its beneficiary is the sitting president, Mahinda Rajapakse.
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Georgian President seeks new draft
Georgian President Saakashvili on Wednesday submitted to parliament a draft of a new constitution that would limit the power of the presidency. The opposition has opposed the move, and some speculate that Saakashvili is “pulling a Putin”: empowering a prime ministership for himself to occupy once his term ends.
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Serving up Constitutional Kaldreta in the Philippines
So you are the President. For five or eight or twelve years now thing have been humming along nicely and the people love/fear you (circle one). Then you see it. Tiny at first but becoming steadily larger – like an iceberg looming over your prow… term limits.
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Colombian Judges Stop Álvaro Uribe’s Reelection Plans
Back in 2005, in a 7-2 decision, the Colombian Constitutional Court decided to uphold the constitutional amendment that allowed current president, Álvaro Uribe, to be reelected. Today, also in a 7-2 decision, the Colombian Constitutional Court decided that it won’t take place the referendum that would have given to voters the last word on whether…
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The Honduran Crisis as Constitutional Inoculation?
It may be time to turn to some of the broader implications of the Honduran constitutional crisis now that a resolution to at least the immediate standoff is in sight. In particular, what will be the fate of the Honduran constitution?