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Benin is gearing up for legislative elections this coming Sunday. Unlike in 2019, this time around, voters will be able to vote for opposition parties if they wish. It is widely expected that the voting would pass through without any violence unlike what it had happened in 2019
Benin is gearing up for legislative elections this coming Sunday. Unlike in 2019, this time around, voters will be able to vote for opposition parties if they wish. It is widely expected that the voting would pass through without any violence unlike what happened in 2019.
Seven parties, three of which claim to be in opposition, are vying for the 109 seats in the National Assembly. Of that, 24 seats are reserved for women. The country’s present president is Patrice Talon, who was elected in 2016 and then re-elected in 2021. However, he is regularly accused of having made an authoritarian shift in the name of development. Benin is known for its vibrant democracy among African countries.
Analysts say, one has to wait and see whether the elections would be free and fair, while the president’s primary opponents live abroad, for fear of being targeted by the present administration through court cases. President Talon’s party, the Bloc Républicain, has its stronghold in the north of Benin, while the opposition party Les Démocrates led by former President Thomas Boni Yayi’s has supporters in the Southern part of the country. Another party, the Progressive Union for Renewal, supports President Talon. The two men -Talon and Yayi- are former allies.  Talon, a cotton magnate financed Boni Yayi’s successful presidential runs in 2006 and 2011. But they fell out in late 2012. This led to Talon leaving the country for three years. He was accused of trying to poison Boni Yayi.
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The election is taking place amidst the threat of Benin being infiltrated by Islamic extremism, as is the case with West Africa’s inland Sahel region. The militant outfits, which have a considerable presence in the Sahel region, are carrying out violence in parts of Benin, especially in the northern part of the country.
