(Bloomberg) -- Benin's President Patrice Talon will host a national dialog with opposition parties to calm a political standoff that erupted after their exclusion from April elections. Some groups aren't invited and one is threatening to boycott the event if certain prerequisites aren't met.
Responding to Talon's announcement on Thursday, the former ruling party FCBE wrote in a letter to the president that it's “fighting alongside other political parties for the restoration of democratic rules.” The dialog is set to take place at the presidential palace in the capital of Cotonou Oct. 10-12.
The FCBE wants all parties as well as members of civil society to be able to participate in the event. Additional demands include that the meetings should only take place once political prisoners are released and charges against former president Thomas Boni Yayi, who held office from 2006 to 2016, are dropped.
Political tension in the West African country has run high since the April 28 parliamentary poll in which only two parties loyal to Talon were allowed to run. As a result, the Republican Bloc and the Progressive Union roughly split the National Assembly's 83 seats, making it easy for the president to push through constitutional reforms.
To contact the reporters on this story: Leanne de Bassompierre in Abidjan at ldebassompie@bloomberg.net;Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou at vahissou@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John McCorry at jmccorry@bloomberg.net, Jana Randow, Rakteem Katakey
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