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.
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.
Elections in Benin take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a presidential system. Both the President and the National Assembly are directly elected by voters, with elections organised by the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA).
Bruno Ange-Marie Amoussou is a Beninese politician who was President of the National Assembly of Benin from 1995 to 1999 and Minister of State for Planning and Prospective Development under President Mathieu Kérékou from 1999 to 2005. He is currently a Deputy in the National Assembly. As the long-time leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Amoussou stood as a presidential candidate in 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006.
The Benin Rebirth Party is an oppositional, more or less liberal party in Benin. The party is led by Nicéphore Soglo, who was President of Benin from 1991 to 1996 and later Mayor of Cotonou.
The Social Democratic Party is a political party in Benin.
Rosine Vieyra Soglo is a Beninese politician. She is a member of the National Assembly of Benin and has also served as a member of the Pan-African Parliament. Soglo is married to Nicéphore Soglo, who was President of Benin from 1991 to 1996.
Thomas Boni Yayi is a Beninese banker and politician who was President of Benin from 2006 to 2016. He took office after winning the March 2006 presidential election and was re-elected to a second term in March 2011. He also served as the Chairperson of the African Union from 29 January 2012 to 27 January 2013.
Presidential elections were held in Benin on 4 March 2001, with a second round run-off on 18 March. They controversially resulted in the re-election of Mathieu Kérékou for a second term. Kérékou's rival Nicéphore Soglo, who had been president from 1991 to 1996, failed in his bid to reclaim the presidency; although he qualified to participate in the second round of the election against Kérékou, he refused to do so, alleging electoral fraud. Adrien Houngbédji, the parliament speaker and third-placed candidate, also refused to participate in a second round. As a result, Kérékou faced fourth-place candidate Bruno Amoussou, who was planning minister and had already given his support to Kérékou, in the second round; Kérékou won an easy victory with 84% of the vote.
Gatien Houngbédji is a Beninese politician and the president of the Union for Economic and Social Development (UDES). Under President Mathieu Kérékou, he was Minister of Trade, Craft Industry, and Tourism from April 1996 to May 1998. He unsuccessfully ran for the office of President of Benin as the candidate of UDES in the March 1991 presidential election, in which he received 0.89% of the vote. He also ran as the UDES candidate in the March 2001 presidential election, in which he received 0.33% of the vote. In January 2006, he was again designated as the UDES candidate for the March 2006 presidential election; in this election he received 0.22% of the vote.
Ganiou Soglo is a Beninese politician of the Benin Rebirth Party (RB) who served in the government for a time as Minister of Culture, Literacy, and the Promotion of National Languages. He is the son of former President Nicéphore Soglo and brother of Léhady Soglo.
The Alliance for a Democratic Dynamic is an opposition alliance of Benin which contested the Beninese parliamentary election of 2007.
Presidential elections were held in Benin in March 1991, the first direct presidential elections since 1970. Elections under the military regime of Mathieu Kérékou had been indirect, with the president chosen by the National Assembly.
Presidential elections were held in Benin in March 1996. The first round, held on 3 March, saw no candidate gain over 50% of the vote, resulting in a second round held on 18 March. Mathieu Kérékou, a former military dictator who had come second in the first round, was victorious in the second round, beating incumbent Nicéphore Soglo, after gaining the backing of the third- and fourth-placed candidates. Kérékou received very strong support from northern voters, but he also improved his performance in the south compared to the 1991 election.
Presidential elections were held in Benin on 13 March 2011 after being postponed twice from 27 February and 6 March 2011. Incumbent President Yayi Boni ran for re-election against thirteen other candidates, including former National Assembly head and political veteran Adrien Houngbédji and Abdoulaye Bio-Tchané, president of the West African Development Bank. He won 53.18% of the vote, enough to win a second term without a run-off. It is the first time since the restoration of democracy in Benin that a candidate has won the presidency in a single round. A second round run-off would have been held on 27 March 2011 if it had been necessary.
Parliamentary elections were held in Benin on 30 April 2011, after being delayed from 17 April 2011. Turnout was reportedly low. The election saw a six-seat increase for the Cauri Forces for an Emerging Benin, composed of allies of the president Yayi Boni, which took nearly half the parliamentary seats. The election consolidated Boni's victory in the 2011 presidential elections the previous month; Adrien Houngbédji, the second-placed candidate, had rejected the validity of the presidential election results.
