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 Africaportal |
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).
In 1926 three elected seats were created on the Administrative Council. Elections with a severely limited franchise were held in 1925, 1928, 1932, 1934 and 1936.
Following World War II, the territory began to elect members to the French National Assembly. The first of these elections took place on 21 October 1945, with Dahomey and neighbouring Togo combined into a single constituency. Two MPs were elected using separate electoral colleges for French citizens and Africans. A by-election was held in February 1946 after one of the two elected MPs died in December 1945, with a second full election for the combined constituency held in June 1946. By the November 1946 elections, Dahomey had become a single-member seat.
A General Council was established in the same period and was first elected in January 1947. [1] The result was a victory for the Dahomeyan Progressive Union, which won 20 of the 30 elected seats. [1] French National Assembly elections were held again in 1951, with Dahomey now having two seats; the Liste de l'Union Française and the Ethnic Group of the North (GEN) each won one seat. The General Council was converted into the Territorial Assembly in 1952, with the first elections to the new body resulting in a victory for the Republican Party of Dahomey (PRD), which won 19 of the 32 seats elected by the second college.
The final French National Assembly election in Dahomey was held in 1956, with the PRD and GEN each winning a seat. The Republican Party went on to win the 1957 Territorial Assembly elections. It also won the 1959 elections, despite receiving fewer votes than the Dahomeyan Democratic Union (UDD), which emerged as the smallest of the three parties in the legislature. Following claims of fraud, the PRD gave nine seats to the UDD, although it remained the largest party.
Following independence on 1 August 1960, parliamentary elections were held in December. The newly established Dahomeyan Unity Party won all 60 seats following changes to the electoral system by President Hubert Maga. [2] The country subsequently became a one-party state, and the Dahomeyan Democratic Party was the only party to contest the elections in 1964, winning all 42 seats.
Following a military coup, attempts were made to reintroduce democracy; presidential elections were held in May 1968, but the results were invalidated due to insufficient voter turnout. The military government subsequently appointed Émile Derlin Zinsou as president, but he took the post on the condition that he was approved by voters. A subsequent vote on his candidacy was approved by just over three-quarters of voters. Another military coup led to presidential elections in 1970. Although they were won by Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, this was due to the results in Atakora being annulled, denying Hubert Maga victory. In order to prevent a civil war, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, Maga and the other main candidate Sourou-Migan Apithy agreed to form a three-member presidential council. However, this lasted only until another coup in 1972.
The country subsequently reverted to being a one-party state with the People's Revolutionary Party of Benin as the sole legal party. A National Revolutionary Assembly was established in 1977, and one-party elections were held in 1979, 1984 and 1989, before multi-party democracy was reintroduced at the start of the 1990s. Parliamentary elections held in February 1991 saw 12 parties and alliances win seats in the National Assembly, with the Union for the Triumph of Democratic Renewal (UTRD) emerging as the largest group with just 12 of the 64 seats. UTRD candidate Nicéphore Soglo subsequently won the presidential elections in March, beating incumbent Mathieu Kérékou in a runoff.
Parliamentary elections in 1995 saw 18 groups win seats in the enlarged 83-seat National Assembly; the Benin Rebirth Party became the largest party with 21 seats. The following year Soglo lost the presidential elections to Kérékou, who ran as an independent. Although Soglo received the most votes in the first round, Kérékou won 52% of the vote in the second. The 1999 parliamentary elections resulted in 16 groups winning seats; the Benin Rebirth Party remained the largest party with 27 seats.
In 2001 Kérékou was re-elected president, running as the Action Front for Renewal and Development (FARD) candidate. However, the election was marred by the withdrawal of Soglo from the run-off after he alleged fraud. With third-place Adrien Houngbédji also refusing to participate, Kérékou faced Bruno Amoussou in the second round, winning with 84% of the vote. The 2003 parliamentary elections saw the majority of parties contest under the Presidential Movement or Opposition banner, with the pro-Kérékou Presidential Movement (dominated by the FARD-based Union for Future Benin) winning a majority of seats.
The 2006 presidential election saw both Kérékou and Soglo barred from running by term limits and age. Yayi Boni defeated Houngbédji in the run-off, receiving 75% of the vote. Parliamentary elections the following year saw the pro-Boni Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin (FCBE) emerge as the largest faction, with 35 of the 83 seats. Boni was re-elected in March 2011 with 53% of the vote, the first time a presidential candidate had won in the first round of voting since the run-off was introduced. In the parliamentary elections the following month the FCBE won 41 seats, narrowly missing out on obtaining a parliamentary majority. Parliamentary elections in 2015 saw the FCBE–Amana Alliance coalition emerge as the largest faction in the National Assembly with 33 seats. The 2016 presidential elections saw the FCBE candidate Lionel Zinsou receive the most votes in the first round, but then defeated in the second round by independent candidate Patrice Talon.
The President of Benin is elected using the two-round system.
During the one-party state era, elections to the National Revolutionary Assembly were conducted in the form of a referendum. Voters were presented with a single list of the ruling People's Revolutionary Party of Benin's candidates to vote for or against. [3] Term length was originally three years, [4] but was extended to five years in the early 1980s. [5] The number of seats varied; starting with 336 in 1979, reduced to 196 in 1984 and increased to 206 in 1989. [4] [5] [3]
Currently the 109 seats in the National Assembly are elected by proportional representation in 24 multi-member constituencies. [6] There are two constituencies for each of the country's 12 departments.
Voters must be at Beninese citizens aged 18 or over. However, people can be disqualified from voting if they are in contempt of court, have an undischarged bankruptcy or are imprisoned for at least three months for certain offences. [6] Candidates must be at least 25 years old and have been resident in Benin for at least a year before the election. If not holding Beninese citizenship by birth, they must have lived in the country for at least 10 years. Government ministers, people working for businesses subsidised by state funds, people holding non-elected public office, involved in the military or working for foreign government or international organisations are not allowed to contest to stand as candidates. [6]
During the colonial era, voters participated in French constitutional referendums in 1945, May 1946 and October 1946. The 1958 referendum on the new constitution of the French Fifth Republic was effectively an independence referendum, as if the terms of the constitution were rejected, the country would become an independent state. However, it was approved by 98% of voters, and Guinea was the only territory to reject the referendum.
Following independence in 1960, a constitutional referendum was held in 1964, with the proposed changes to the constitution creating a presidential system of government, scrapping term limits for the president, and having a unicameral parliament. [7] It was approved by 99.8% of voters. Another constitutional referendum was held in 1968, with 92% voting in favour.
The most recent constitutional referendum was held in 1990. The main changes were a proposed return to multi-party democracy, with a secondary question for those voting in favour of the change, as to whether the president should be subject to term limits; 93% voted in favour of the proposed changes, with 73% of all voters in favour of term limits.
The History of Benin since the 16th century, for the geographical area included in 1960 in what was then called the Republic of Dahomey before becoming the People's Republic 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 rated Benin a "hybrid regime" in 2022.
Mathieu Kérékou was a Beninese politician who served as president of the People's Republic of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and the Republic of Benin from 1996 to 2006.
Sourou-Migan Marcellin Joseph Apithy was a Beninese political figure most active when his country was known as Dahomey. He arose on a political scene where one's power was dictated by what region in Dahomey one lived in.
Coutoucou Hubert Maga was a politician from Dahomey. He arose on a political scene where one's power was dictated by what region in Dahomey one lived in. Born a peasant in 1916, Maga served as a schoolmaster from 1936 to 1945, during which time he gradually gained considerable influence among the uneducated. He was elected to Dahomey's territorial assembly in 1947 and founded the Northern Ethnical Group, later renamed the Dahomey Democratic Rally. In 1951, Maga was elected to the French National Assembly, where he served in various positions, including premier from 1959 to 1960. When Dahomey gained its independence from France on August 1, 1960, Maga was appointed to the presidency, and was officially elected to that post on December 11.
Elections in Togo take place within the framework of a presidential system. Both the President and the National Assembly are directly elected by voters. Togo is a one party dominant state with the Union for the Republic in power.
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.
Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo is a Beninese politician who was Prime Minister of Benin from 1990 to 1991 and President from 1991 to 1996. He was Mayor of Cotonou from 2003 to 2015. Soglo was married to Rosine Vieyra Soglo, the Beninois former First Lady and politician.
The Benin Rebirth Party is a liberal political party in Benin. The party was founded on 24 March 1992 by then-First Lady Rosine Vieyra Soglo, who became the first Beninese woman to establish a new political party. The party was also headed by Vieyra Soglo after its foundation. It is led by Nicéphore Soglo, who was President of Benin from 1991 to 1996 and later Mayor of Cotonou.
Rosine Honorine Vieyra Soglo was a Beninese politician. Soglo served as First Lady of Benin from 1991 to 1996 during the presidency of her husband, Nicéphore Soglo. She is considered the first First Lady of the democratic era following Benin's transition to a multi-party democracy.
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. From 2015 to 2019, he served for a third time as President of the National Assembly.
Presidential elections were held in Benin on 5 March 2006. Long-term president Mathieu Kérékou, who had led the country for all but four years since 1972, was barred from running for a third term. The constitution not only stipulated an absolute two-term limit, but required presidents to be 70 years old or younger when taking office; Kérékou had turned 70 in 2003. In July 2005, Kérékou signalled that he would not seek to change the constitution, as has been done in some other African countries, so that he could run again. Kérékou's long-time rival Nicéphore Soglo was also barred from standing due to his age.
The Dahomeyan Democratic Rally was a political party in French Dahomey led by Hubert Maga.
The 1963 Dahomeyan coup d'état was staged on October 28, 1963, by Christophe Soglo, who took control of the Republic of Dahomey to prevent a civil war. He overthrew Hubert Maga, whose presidency faced extreme economic stagnation and a host of other problems.
Paul Darboux was a Beninese merchant and politician, most active when his country was known as Dahomey.
Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in Western Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north; its short coastline to the south leads to the Bight of Benin. Its size is just over 110000 km2 with a population of almost 8500000. Its capital is the Yoruba founded city of Porto Novo, but the seat of government is the Fon city of Cotonou. About half the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day.
The Presidential Council was a triumvirate system of government in the Republic of Dahomey from 7 May 1970 until 26 October 1972. The Presidential Council included Hubert Maga, Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, and Sourou-Migan Apithy as equal members of a council which held all legislative and executive power in the state of Dahomey.
The Dahomeyan Democratic Union was a political party in French Dahomey.
Pascal Chabi Kao is a Beninese politician.
The 1972 Dahomeyan coup d'état was a military coup staged on 26 October 1972 by Major Mathieu Kérékou, who took control of the Republic of Dahomey and ended a system of government established following the annulled 1970 presidential election, in which three members of the Presidential Council were to rotate in power. Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin served as the Chairman at the time of the coup.
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