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The troops in Benin kept up the pressure on protests on Friday after two days of post-election violence that claimed the lives of three people.
Soldiers broke up protests on Thursday with gunfire around the home of ex-president Thomas Boni Yayi, which became a hotbed of protests, and blocked Friday roads leading to the site, a journalist said. 39; AFP.
Last Sunday's parliamentary elections were marked by low voter turnout and widespread anger over changes to the electoral rules that effectively prevented opposition parties from running candidates.
The final results, released last Thursday by Joseph Djogbenou, president of the Constitutional Court of Benin, showed that all seats were won by the only two parties allowed to participate, both allied with President Patrice Talon.
The turnout was 27.1 percent, a record since Benin's transition to democracy nearly 40 years ago, although it is higher than the 23 percent cited in the preliminary results, said Djogbenou. .
The demonstrations began a few hours after the publication of the first results on Wednesday.
A large number of soldiers and riot police, as well as hundreds of demonstrators armed with barricades on fire, gathered in the streets of the economic capital of Benin, Cotonou.
On Thursday, soldiers deployed in force cleared the streets with gunshots.
Djogbenou, close to the presidency, said that the "irregularities" and "disturbances" recorded during the ballot were not sufficient to "compromise the validity of the vote".
The dynamic political scene of the small state of West Africa has long made it a model of democracy. However, civil society and human rights groups in Benin and abroad claim that debate and dissent are under threat.
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