In an interview to French news services, Jeune Afrique reports that President Mamadou Tandja has announced that he envisages a referendum later in the year to abolish the current two-term presidential limit.

President Tandja’s second term expires in December this year. Presidential and legislative elections are due to be held at that time, though no date has yet been fixed.

However, the situation is potentially more complex than it first appears. Art. 136 of the 1999 Nigerien constitution states that Art. 36 of the constitution cannot be the object of a constitutional revision. In turn, Art. 36 is the one that regulates the election and that term-limits the president.

This restriction explains why the government spokesperson announced that President Tandja would present a whole new constitution for approval at the referendum. The referendum would “open up the way for Niger’s 6th Republic”, said the government spokesperson.

Those in favour of the end of term limits are called ‘tazartchistes’ after the word ‘tazartché’, the Hausa word for ‘prolongation’.

Niger has the dubious record of being the only country where democracy has collapsed in the middle of a period of cohabitation. (See previous cohabitation post). However, after the passage of the 1999 constitution and the return of civilian rule it has been classed as partly free or democratising. Given the ending of term limits is becoming a good proxy for the end of democracy, it can only be hoped that Niger will not collapse again.