Editing History of Benin (section)

=== 20th century ===
Between 1960 and 1972, a succession of [[military coup]]s brought about many changes of government.<ref>{{cite book|last=Decalo|first=Samuel|title=Political Reform in Francophone Africa|publisher=Westview Press|location=Boulder, CO|year=1997|editor=John F. Clark & David E. Gardinier|chapter=Benin: First of the new democracies|pages=43–61}}</ref> The last of these brought to power Major [[Mathieu Kérékou]] as the head of a regime professing strict [[Marxist-Leninist]] principles.<ref>Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders (2003), page 55.</ref> By 1975 the Republic of Dahomey changed its name to the People's Republic of Benin.<ref>Jamie Stokes.  Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East: L to Z. Infobase Publishing, 2009. {{ISBN|0-8160-7158-6}}, p110.</ref> The [[People's Revolutionary Party of Benin]] (PRPB) remained in complete power until the beginning of the 1990s. Kérékou, encouraged by France and other democratic powers, convened a national conference that introduced a new democratic constitution and held presidential and legislative elections. Kérékou's principal opponent at the presidential poll, and the ultimate victor, was Prime Minister [[Nicéphore Soglo]]. Supporters of Soglo also secured a majority in the National Assembly.<ref name=bn>[https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/6761.htm "Background Note: Benin"]. U.S. Department of State (June 2008). {{PD-notice}}</ref> Benin was thus the first African country to successfully complete the transition from a dictatorship to a pluralistic political system.<ref>Thomson Gale (Firm). Countries of the world and their leaders yearbook 2007, Volume 1. Thomson Gale, 2006. {{ISBN|0-7876-8104-0}}, p212</ref>

In the second round of National Assembly elections held in March 1995, Zoglo's political vehicle, the Parti de la Renaissance du Benin, was the largest single party but lacked an overall majority. The success of a party formed by supporters of ex-president Kérékou, who had officially retired from active politics, allowed him to stand successfully at both the 1996 and 2001 presidential elections.<ref name=bn/>