Justice confirms the parliamentary majority of the pro-government parties in Benin

Jan. 13 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Constitutional Court of Benin has confirmed this Wednesday that the pro-government parties have won the majority of the seats in the national Parliament, after the elections last Sunday.

The courts have ratified the preliminary results of the electoral authority, which indicated that the parties allied to President Patrice Talon, the Republican Bloc and the Progressive Union for Renewal, have obtained 81 seats, out of a total of 109 seats.

On the other hand, the Beninese opposition, the Les Democrates party, has returned to Parliament with 28 seats, after several years of absence.

The participation of Los Demócratas (LD), led by former president Boni Yayi, in the January 8 elections remained up in the air until the last moment because the Electoral Commission warned that the party lacked the tax certificates that were they had asked him to attend.

However, a subsequent successful appeal to the Constitutional Court gave The Democrats permission to stand in the legislative elections, now being the third most seated political force in the country.

More than 6.5 million voters voted on Sunday in elections where representatives of seven political parties, four from the presidential movement and three from the opposition, ran for the 109 seats in the National Assembly in the 24 constituencies under the watchful eye of a mission of 40 observers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

President Talon keeps two major LD opponents, former minister Reckya Madougou and constitutionalist Joël Aïvo, imprisoned by order of a special anti-terrorism court, harshly criticized by the opposition for considering the court an instrument purely at the service of the president.