Beninese parliamentary election, 1989

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Parliamentary elections were held in Benin on 18 June 1989. At the time, the country was a one-party state under the People's Revolutionary Party of Benin, with voters given the choice of approving the party's list of 206 candidates for the National Revolutionary Assembly (increased from 196 in the 1984 elections) or not. In the election, 89.6% of voters approved the list, with 9.7% voting against. [1] Turnout was 86%. [2]

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 one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of state in which one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties are either outlawed or allowed to take only a limited and controlled participation in elections. Sometimes the term de facto one-party state is used to describe a dominant-party system that, unlike the one-party state, allows democratic multiparty elections, but the existing practices or balance of political power effectively prevent the opposition from winning the elections.

Peoples Revolutionary Party of Benin political party in Benin

The People's Revolutionary Party of Benin was a political party in the People's Republic of Benin. It was founded in 1975 by General Mathieu Kérékou. With the new constitution of November 30, 1975, PRPB became the sole legal party in the country. Ideologically, the party was committed to Marxism-Leninism.

Following the election, Mathieu Kérékou was re-elected President unopposed by the Assembly on 2 August. [3]

Mathieu Kérékou politician

Mathieu Kérékou was a Beninese politician who served as President of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and again from 1996 to 2006. After seizing power in a military coup, he ruled the country for 19 years, for most of that time under an officially Marxist–Leninist ideology, before he was stripped of his powers by the National Conference of 1990. He was defeated in the 1991 presidential election but was returned to the presidency in the 1996 election and controversially re-elected in 2001.

Results

ChoiceVotes%
Approve1,695,86089.6
Not approve164,6658.7
Abstain32,1761.7
Invalid/blank votes
Total1,892,701100
Registered voters/turnout2,200,815
Source: Nohlen et al.

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References

  1. Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p90 ISBN   0-19-829645-2
  2. Benin Inter-Parliamentary Union
  3. Elections in Benin African Elections Database