At Stake in this Election:     

• 83 seats in the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale)

Government Structure:

• Chief of State: President Patrice TALON
• Head of Government: President Patrice TALON
• Assembly: Benin has a unicameral National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) with 83 seats.

Electoral System:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
• In the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) 83 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms. Seats are split into 24 multi-member constituencies creating a low district magnitude. There is a 10% threshold for a party list to get into parliament (unless there are fewer than four lists in the election, in which case the threshold does not apply).

Main Parties in this Election:*

• Party: Progressive Union / Union Progressiste
  • Leader: Bruno AMOUSSOU
• Party: Republican Bloc / Bloc Républicain
  • Leader: Jean-Michel ABIMBOLA

* Both of the participating blocs support President Patrice TALON. Five opposition parties that were running were ruled ineligible by the election commission. The National Assembly convened to discuss the issue, but the elections were called for without the parties ruled ineligible. More information on the ruling can be found here, here, and here.

Population and Registered Voters:

• Population: 11,801,595 (2019 est.)
• Registered Voters: 4,992,399

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 5,910,130 (2019 est.)
• Is Benin a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (11 November 1981)
• Has Benin ratified CEDAW: Yes (12 March 1992)
• Gender Quota:  N/A
• Female Candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Legislators: 6 (7.2%) of 83 seats in the National Assembly
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 163 (2018)
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium (2019)

Disability Data:

• Is Benin a signatory to CRPD: Yes (8 February 2008)
• Has Benin ratified CRPD: Yes (5 July 2012)
• Population with a disability: 1,567,297 (est.)