Benin election: The fight for a democratic future

Benin was in the vanguard of a new wave of multiparty democracy which spread across the continent 30 years ago and was dubbed the birthplace of African multiparty democracy
Those polls in 1991 saw Benin's former President Mathieu Kérékou become the first West African leader to admit defeat in an election.
Since then Benin had been regarded as a democratic model with several African nations replicating its reconciliation body, the National Conference of Active Forces of the Nation.
But this reputation soured in 2019 when new electoral laws meant a political party had to pay about $424,000 (£328,000) to field a list for the 83-seat parliament. That year saw a record low voter turnout.