Open figure viewer
Significance
There is no consistent regional norm on this issue. Third term bids are often destabilising, but leaders that opt to respect term limits and hand off power to a close associate can also find themselves in hot water.
Impacts
The lack of an ironclad norm against third terms creates tensions about the integrity of elections and incumbents’ interference.
Third term bids undermine courts and legislatures; incumbents often use them to rubber-stamp referendums or constitutional changes.
ECOWAS’s credibility faces risks due to the bloc's inconsistency regarding third term bids.
Keywords:
West Africa,
AF,
Benin,
Burkina Faso,
Cameroon,
Chad,
Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon,
Gambia,
Mali,
Niger,
Senegal,
Togo,
politics,
social,
coup,
election,
government,
military,
security
© Oxford Analytica 2022. All rights reserved. This content contains general information about geopolitical, macroeconomic and social developments or (where stated) other matters. It does not contain advice or recommendations that may be relied on. Where links to external websites are provided, this does not indicate that Oxford Analytica or Emerald agree with, endorse or have checked for accuracy the contents of said sites.
2022
You do not currently have access to this content.
