142 Views
The Electoral Platform of Civil Society Organizations (PEOSC), coordinated by WANEP-Benin, followed with much bitterness and sadness, the plenary session of Tuesday March 5, 2024 of the National Assembly leading to the vote on the proposal of law amending the electoral code. The PEOSC notes that the electoral law, as passed, carries exclusion against the general interest which is highly crisogenic and can open the way to violence if it is promulgated as it stands.
It must be remembered that the 2019 Electoral Code, the subject of this unfair rereading, had profoundly undermined national cohesion with deplorable consequences which still remain vivid in people’s minds. And the electoral platform continues its advocacy and dialogue initiatives to strengthen national cohesion.
The adoption of the Electoral Code reread on March 5, 2024, annihilates the tireless efforts made by Civil Society to contribute to inclusive and peaceful electoral processes in our country.
Consequently, the Electoral Platform urges the members of the National Assembly who have an interest and quality to draw all the consequences of article 121 of the Constitution in legal advocacy to contribute to the strengthening of the rule of law and democracy:
- Invites the Head of State to use all his prerogatives under the provisions of articles 57 and 121 of the Constitution to ensure his oath, to be guided only by the general interest and respect for human rights , to devote all its forces to the research and promotion of the common good, peace and national unity; by refusing to promulgate the adopted law as it stands.
- Urges the Beninese people to oppose violence, dialogue, listening, tolerance in difference so that the hard-won heritage at the end of the Conference of the Living Forces of the Nations in February 1990 triumphs.
Published this Wednesday March 6, 2024.
The president of the PEOSC,
Ms. Fatoumatou BATOKO ZOSSOU.
