The

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

National Assembly is

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

body. The National Assembly in

Porto-Novo Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of G ...

as it exists today was formed in 1990. The current National Assembly has 83 members who are directly elected through a system of

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be u ...

and serve five-year terms.

History

The first parliament of an independent Benin was defined by the Constitution of 28 February 1959 and lasted from April 1959 to November 1960. It was chaired by Justin Ahomadegbé Tomètin. With a 1960 and a 1964 constitution, two new National Assemblies were enacted each time. The implementation of the Basic Law of 9 September 1977 radically altered the parliament. It was renamed the Revolutionary National Assembly (ANR) and lasted until February 1990. The High Council of the Republic was formed in February 1990 to democratize the country and was chaired by Archbishop

Isidore de Souza Isidore de Souza (4 April 1934 – 13 March 1999) was a Beninese priest who was Archbishop of Cotonou from 1990 to 1999. He was born into the aristocratic De Souza family of Ouidah on 4 April 1934. He was the uncle of Chantal Yayi, who serve ...

. A new constitution was passed on 11 December 1990 which formed the basic structure of the current assembly.

Electoral system

The 83 members of the National assembly are directly elected by the people in a

system, with 24 multi-member constituencies that are corresponding to the

departments of Benin Benin is divided into 12 departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and ...

. Parties select as many candidates as there are seats to be filled, and vacancies are filled by substitutes. They serve five year terms, and the most recent election was in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. To be eligible to vote in Benin, a person must be at least 18 years old, a Beninese citizen, fully possess civil and political rights, and not be convicted of a crime that merits a punishment of three months in prison, in contempt of court, or have an undischarged bankruptcy. Each candidate for the Assembly must be at least 25 years of age, a resident of Benin for at least a year, and a Beninese citizen by birth or a naturalized immigrant who has resided in the country for at least ten years. Being convicted of

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

or guardianship disqualifies a person from running.

Politics

In the 2015 election,

Cauri Forces for an Emerging Benin The Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin (french: Forces Cauris pour un Bénin émergent, FCBE) is a political party of Benin, formed by supporters of president Yayi Boni. In the parliamentary election held on 31 March 2007, the party won 35 out ...

retained 33 seats. They were the main party supporting President

Thomas Boni Yayi Thomas Boni Yayi (born 1 July 1951) 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 s ...

. The two largest opposition parties were the Union Makes the Nation (UN) with 13 seats and the

Party for Democratic Renewal The Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (french: Mouvement pour le Renouveau Démocratique et le Développement), ( ar, لحركة التجديد الديموقراطي والتنمية) is a political party in Djibouti. It was origi ...

(PRD) with 10. Six MPs are female, while 77 are male. Coalition building is essential. The main political issue facing the Assembly in recent years has been a proposal to amend the Constitution to allow Presidents to serve more than two terms, which has failed to receive enough support.

Adrien Houngbédji Adrien Houngbédji (born 5 March 1942) is a Beninese politician and the leader of the Democratic Renewal Party (''Parti du renouveau démocratique'', PRD), one of Benin's main political parties. He was President of the National Assembly of Beni ...

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. Members of Parliament receive a salary of 193,291 francs per month with an additional allowance of 373,003 francs per month. MPs must attend plenary sittings and committee meetings. MPs who miss one third of meetings may receive a hefty fine and be suspended for up to a year.Benin - Assemblee Nationale Parliamentary Mandate
Inter-Parliamentary Union

References

External links

* {{Authority control Government of Benin 1959 establishments in the Republic of Dahomey

History

Electoral system

Politics

See also

References

External links