Beninese parliamentary election, 2015

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Beninese parliamentary election, 2015
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←  2011 26 April 2015

Party Leader% Seats±
FCBE–Amana Arifari Bako 30.19 33 -10
UN Bruno Amoussou 14.35 13 -17
PRD Adrien Houngbédji 10.57 10
AND Valentin Houdé 7.64 5
RB–RP Léhady Soglo 7.09 7
Sun Sacca Lafia 6.66 4 +2
FDU Mathurin Nago 4.00 4
ABT Abdoulaye Bio-Tchané 3.70 2
Scout Edmond Agoua 3.42 2
UB Orou Sé Guéné 2.90 2 0
Résoatao Party Mohamed Atao Hinnouho 2.16 1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Parliamentary elections were held in Benin on 26 April 2015. [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.

Contents

Electoral system

The 83 members of the National Assembly are elected in 24 multi-member constituencies, based on the country's departments. Seats are allocated using proportional representation based on the simple quotient, with remaining seats assigned using the largest remainder method. [2]

National Assembly (Benin) legislative body of Benin

The unicameral National Assembly is Benin's legislative body.

Departments of Benin

Benin is divided into 12 departments, and subdivided into 77 communes. In 1999, the previous six departments were each split into two halves, forming the current 12. Each of the six new departments was assigned a capital in 2008.

Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.

Conduct

Observers from the African Union stated that the elections were generally transparent, despite some organisational challenges. [3]

African Union Supranational union

The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa, with exception of various territories of European possessions located in Africa. The bloc was founded on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and launched on 9 July 2002 in South Africa. The intention of the AU is to replace the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa by 32 signatory governments. The most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union, a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states. The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin–Amana Alliance 889,36230.1933–10
Union Makes the Nation 422,71514.3513–17
Democratic Renewal Party 311,45310.5710–
National Alliance for Development and Democracy 225,1457.645–
Benin Rebirth Party–Patriotic Revival Party 208,9097.097–
Sun Alliance 196,1196.664+2
United Democratic Forces 117,9704.004–
Alliance for a Triumphant Benin 108,9153.702–
Scout Alliance 100,7413.422–
Union for Benin 85,3632.9020
Résoatao Party 63,6682.161New
Patriotic Alliance for Awakening and Union44,5011.510New
Union for Democracy and Development33,3771.130New
Union for Democracy and Reform30,3291.030New
Union of Engaged Forces for Development27,4540.930New
New Hope for Benin20,8440.710New
Rally of Republicans19,6660.670New
Movement of Awakening the Conscience of Citizens and the Alternative14,5970.500New
Chameleon Alliance 12,8670.440New
Alliance for New Governance 12,0870.410New
Invalid/blank votes–––
Total2,946,082100830
Registered voters/turnout4,470,591––
Source: Constitutional Court of Benin, Visages du Benin

Aftermath

When the National Assembly began meeting for its new term, Adrien Houngbédji was elected as President of the National Assembly on the night of 19–20 May 2015; as the candidate representing the opposition, he received 42 votes, while the candidate representing President Yayi Boni's supporters, Komi Koutché, received 41. Members of the opposition dominated the Bureau of the National Assembly, obtaining six of its seven posts. [4] [5]

Adrien Houngbédji is a Beninese politician and the leader of the Democratic Renewal Party, one of Benin's main political parties. He was President of the National Assembly of Benin from 1991 to 1995, Prime Minister of Benin from 1996 to 1998, and President of the National Assembly again from 1999 to 2003. Beginning in 1991, he stood repeatedly as a presidential candidate; he placed second in 2006, but was heavily defeated by Yayi Boni in a second round of voting. Since 2015, he has served for a third time as President of the National Assembly.

Notes

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    The Republic of Benin was formed in 1960 when the colony of French Dahomey gained independence from France. Prior to this, the area that is now the Republic of Benin was divided largely between two coastal kingdoms, Dahomey and Porto-Novo, and a large area of various tribes in the north. The French assembled these various groups together into the colony of French Dahomey, which was part of the various colonies of French West Africa from 1904 until 1960. In the independence era, the republic was extremely unstable for the first decade and a half of existence, with multiple governments and multiple military coups. In 1972, Mathieu Kérékou led a military coup deposing the Presidential Council and appointing himself as the head of state, a position he held until 1991 when the country returned to multiparty elections. Since that point, the state has held multiple presidential and legislative elections and a number of different parties have become important.

    Politics of Benin

    The Politics of Benin take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, wherein the President of Benin is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the legislature. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The current political system is derived from the 1990 Constitution of Benin and the subsequent transition to democracy in 1991. The Economist Intelligence Unit has rated Benin as "hybrid regime" in 2016.

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    References

    1. ↑ 2015 African election calendar EISA
    2. ↑ Electoral system IPU
    3. ↑ "MISSION D'OBSERVATION DE L'UNION AFRICAINE POUR LES ELECTIONS LEGISLATIVES DU 26 AVRIL 2015 EN REPUBLIQUE DU BENIN - DECLARATION PRELIMINAIRE" (PDF) (in French). African Union. 20 April 2015. Archived from the original (pdf) on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
    4. ↑ "Bénin: un membre de l’opposition à la tête de l’Assemblée nationale", Radio France Internationale, 20 May 2015 (in French).
    5. ↑ Hermann Boko, "Bénin : l’opposant Adrien Houngbédji porté au perchoir, un revers pour le pouvoir en place", Le Monde, 21 May 2015 (in French).
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