Political system
Short for BN by Abbreviationfinder, Benin is a republic whose 1990 constitution guarantees multi-party systems and protection of human rights. The President has a strong position: he is the head of state and appoints the ministers in the government. The president can appoint a prime minister to lead the day-to-day government work, but has often chosen this task himself.
The president is elected in direct elections of five years with the possibility of re-election once. The country’s parliament, the National Assembly, makes laws. Its 83 members are elected in general elections for four years. Administratively, Benin is divided into 12 departments.
- Countryaah: Total population and chart of Benin for years of 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Also covers population density, birth rate, death rate and population growth rates.
After a period of political turmoil, several legislative changes were adopted in November 2019. Among other things, the number of Members in Parliament will be increased from 83 to 109. Twenty-four of the new seats will be reserved for women. At the same time, a new post as Vice President will be established.
There are a very large number of political parties but the differences between them are often not so great; more important is who is the party leader and where they come from. In order to gain as much influence as possible, many parties usually cooperate in broad coalitions, but at the same time they have had an easy change of alliance partners when it suits them.
The main political divide was until 2006 between opponents of President Mathieu Kérékou and the parties that supported him. Kérékou had his strongest support in the north while his opponents dominated in the south. Independent economist Yayi’s victory in the 2006 presidential election shook the political establishment and traditionally the most important parties in its foundations. But politicians have continued to be categorized to some extent based on whether they belong to “north” or “south”. Yayi is of mixed origin but was still considered “north”.
The cauri forces for a prominent Benin (Forces Cauris pour un Bénin émergent, FCBE) (cauri = a worm traditionally used as a means of payment) was formed as an alliance of some 20 smaller parties in support of the then President Boni Yayi for the 2007 parliamentary elections. that choice became FCBE’s largest grouping. In the 2011 election, FCBE’s position in Parliament was strengthened, but the alliance lost ground in the 2015 parliamentary elections, although it received the most votes. In early 2018, FCBE was converted to a party of the same name.
The Alliance Union makes the nation (Union fait la nation, UN) includes the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the African Movement for Democracy and Progress (Movement africain pour la democratie et le progrès, Madep) and the Democratic Forces Union (Union des Forces Democratiques, UFD). The UN also lost ground in the 2015 elections. The Alliance lost more than twice as many mandates as FCBE.
One of the larger parties is the Democratic renewal (Parti du renouveau démocratique, PRD) which has the most sympathizers around Porto Novo. The party has been part of the UN periodically.
Benin’s rebirth party (Parti de la renaissance du Bénin, RB) was a major opposition party during Mathieu Kérékou’s time in power (1972-1991). RB, which has its main support around Cotonou, has been characterized by internal divisions during the 2000s. RB was formerly a member of the UN but changed foot after the 2011 election and then supported President Yayi. Also in the 2016 presidential election, RB supported the FCBE candidate. In the 2015 election, RB came in fourth place in alliance with another party, Patriotic Awakening (Réveil Patriotique, RP).
In late 2002 and early 2003, Benin’s first election to local parishes was held since the early 1990s. The elections were part of an ongoing decentralization of the country’s government. When local elections were held again in the spring of 2008, they were disturbed by a number of inaccuracies and accusations of electoral fraud and the elections had to be redone in a number of constituencies. Local elections would have been held in April 2013, but were postponed several times due to an update of the electoral length. The election first took place in June 2015.
In the parliamentary elections in April 2019, only two parties were able to participate since the others failed to meet the stricter administrative requirements that new electoral laws from autumn 2018 imposed on the parties. The two parties participating were the Progressive Union and the Republican Party, both faithful to President Talon.
2006
March
Benin is granted debt relief
The rich countries in the G8 group allow Benin amortization of about $ 1 billion in debt, according to what they decided at its summit in Scottish Gleneagles the year before.
Boni Yayi wins the presidential election
March 19
Politically independent economist Boni Yayi wins the crucial round of the presidential election with three-quarters of the vote. He defeats Adrien Houngbédji of the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD).