Elections for the National Revolutionary Assembly

National Assembly of Benin

The unicameral National Assembly of Benin is the country's legislative body.The current National Assembly has 83 members who are directly elected through a system of party-list proportional representation and serve five-year terms.-See also:...

were held in Benin

Benin

Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

 on 20 November 1979. At the time, the country was a one-party state under the People's Revolutionary Party of Benin

People's Revolutionary Party of Benin

The People's Revolutionary Party of Benin was a political party in the People's Republic of Benin. It was founded in 1975 by General Mathieu Kérékou. With the new constitution of November 30, 1975, PRPB became the sole legal party in the country...

, with voters given the choice of approving the party's list of 336 candidates or not. The list was ultimately approved by 98.3% of voters, with an 80.6% turnout. Following the election, Mathieu Kérékou

Mathieu Kérékou

Mathieu Kérékou, was President of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and again from 1996 to 2006. After seizing power in a military coup, he ruled the country for 17 years, for most of that time under an officially Marxist-Leninist ideology, before he was stripped of his powers by the National Conference of...

was elected President (unopposed) by the Assembly on 6 February 1980.

Results

Choice	Votes	%
Approve	1,248,613	98.3
Not approve	21,438	1.7
Invalid/blank votes	5,410
Total	1,275,461	100
Source: Nohlen et al

Assembly members

Rather than geographical constituencies, seats were divided up by professions.

Profession	Seats
Civil servants	105
Peasants and craftsmen	84
Party officials	67
Military	33
Workers	33
Representatives of the middle class	8
Clergy	6