REPUBLIC OF BENIN Official name: Republique du Benin (Republic of Benin) Location: West Africa International organisations: The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, The African Union, The Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, The Organisation of Islamic Conference, The United Nations, The World Trade Organisation Borders: Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Togo Coastline: Gulf of Guinea Land area: 112,620 Km2 Population: 6,800,000 Ethnicity: Almost the entire population is of West African stock, the largest groups being the Fon, the Yoruba and the Adja Languages: French is the official language and is the language of government, business and the media. Many African languages are spoken, the most common being Fon and Yobuba. Religion: Indigenous beliefs 50%, Catholic Christian 30%, Sunni Moslem 20% Form of government: Presidential democratic republic. Benin is divided into 12 provinces. Capital: Porto-Novo (many government functions are based in Cotonou, the commercial centre)

Constitution: The Constitution of the Republic of Benin came into effect in December 1990.
Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term.
Head of government: The President, who appoints all ministers.
Legislature: Benin has a unicameral legislature, the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale), which has 83 members elected for four-year terms by proportional representation.
Electoral authority: The National Autonomous Election Commission (CENA) administers national elections.
Freedom House 2005 rating: Political Rights 2, Civil Liberties 2

Political history

Although Porto-Novo was founded by the Portuguese, the coastal areas of what is now Benin came under French control in the 1850s, and Porto-Novo became a French protectorate in 1863. The inland areas were added in the 1890s, with the colony (known as Dahomey) becoming part of French West Africa in 1899. The colony gained its own assembly in 1946, full internal self-government within the French Community in 1958, and independence in 1960.

Hubert Maga, Dahomey's first president, was ousted by a military coup in 1963. Christophe Soglo, the army chief, ruled the country on-and-off until 1967, and there were several further coups. In 1972 Mathieu Kérékou seized power, and renamed the country the People's Republic of Benin. Kérékou turned Benin into a one-party socialist state.

In 1990 Kérékou abandoned socialism and convened a National Conference to draft a new democratic constitution. In 1991 Nicephore Soglo defeated Kérékou in a presidential election: the first time an incumbent leader had been defeated in a free election in the history of Africa. At the next election in 1996 Kérékou returned to power by defeating Soglo. Kérékou was re-elected in 2001, although Soglo claimed irregularities and withdrew from the second round.

Benin's main political parties are Kérékou's Presidential Movement, which includes the Union for the Benin of the Future and the African Movement for Development and Progress, and Soglo's opposition party, the Party for the Rebirth of Benin.