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. The result was a victory for the
Dahomeyan Progressive Union, which won 20 of the 30 elected seats. 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. ==Electoral system==