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Benin's electoral commission announced the controversial election results held without any opposition candidates and recorded a record turnout of less than 23 percent.
All candidates who participated in the April 28 vote came from only two parties, the Republican Bloc and the Progressive Union, both allied with President Patrice Talon.
The small country of West Africa has long been considered a model of democracy, but major opposition parties have been barred from running candidates due to new eligibility rules. strict.
Many citizens listened to opposition parties' calls to boycott the polls.
The electoral commission announced Tuesday night that 22.99 percent of nearly five million eligible voters had voted.
Participation has never been less than 50% since the country's transition to democracy in 1990.
The results have never been in doubt, with the two participating parties sharing the 83 seats in the parliament – the Progressive Union 47 and the Republican bloc 36.
Before 1990, Benin was struggling with decades of authoritarian rule. Democracy has led to flourishing political competition: five years ago, voters could choose from 20 parties.
But this year, ruling party legislators adopted a new election code that did not allow a single opposition candidate to choose.
Two former presidents had condemned the elections and demanded their annulment.
Commission President Emmanuel Tiando said the poll had not taken place in 39 of the country's 546 districts due to "incidents".
Civil society groups reported two deaths in the poll, out of a total of 206 incidents, including clashes and the destruction of election materials.
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