Benin’s President Patrice Talon has defended the new electoral process introduced las month, stressing that it had led to “major reforms,” reports said on Tuesday.
The electoral process behind the 8th legislature is “the culmination of a major, difficult, desired and feared reform: the reform of the partisan system,” Talon said Monday evening in an address to the nation.
Cette réforme, a-t-il souligné, a été souhaitée par les citoyens, la société civile et les acteurs politiques dans le but de «redonner confiance aux uns et crédibilité aux autres, quant à l’importance de l’impact du système partisan sur la qualité de la gouvernance du pays ».
This reform, he stressed, was desired by citizens, civil society and political actors in order to “restore confidence and credibility to each other, as to the importance of the impact of the partisan system on the quality of the country’s governance”.
“It was driven by this conviction that I supported the initiative to reform our partisan and electoral practices, reassured that by persevering in action, we will achieve lasting results,” the head of state said before condemning the acts of violence noted in the country after the legislative elections.
Only two parties in the presidential movement, the Progressive Union and the Republican Bloc, met the conditions for participation in the legislative elections, unlike the opposition, from which all parties were excluded. Thus, the 83 MPs of this single colored National Assembly were installed last Thursday in Porto-Novo, under high police surveillance.
UB/cat/lb/abj/APA