Beninese constitutional referendum, 1990

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A constitutional referendum was held in Benin on 2 December 1990. The main issues were changing the political system to a multi-party system, with a secondary issue as to whether there should be age limits for the President. The referendum passed with 93.2% of voters approving the change to a multi-party system and 73.3% in favour of age limits. [1]

Benin country in Africa

Benin, officially the Republic of Benin and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. The majority of its population lives on the small southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, the country's largest city and economic capital. Benin covers an area of 114,763 square kilometres (44,310 sq mi) and its population in 2016 was estimated to be approximately 10.87 million. Benin is a tropical nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment and income arising from subsistence farming.

A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national election, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coalition. Apart from one-party-dominant and two-party systems, multi-party systems tend to be more common in parliamentary systems than presidential systems and far more common in countries that use proportional representation compared to countries that use first-past-the-post elections.

Results

ChoiceVotes%Votes%
Yes, with age limits926,86073.3%1,178,92493.2%
Yes, without age limits252,06419.9%
No85,7176.8%
Invalid/blank votes40,229
Total1,304,870100
Registered voters/turnout2,052,10563.6
Source: African Elections Database

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References

  1. Elections in Benin African Elections Database