The Presidential Council () was a triumvirate system of government in the Republic of Dahomey (present-day Benin) from 7 May 1970 until 26 October 1972. The Presidential Council included Hubert Maga (former president from 1960 to 1963), Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin (former prime minister from 1964 to 1965), and Sourou-Migan Apithy (former president from 1964 to 1965) as equal members of a council which held all legislative and executive power in the state of Dahomey.
Following independence from France, the Republic of Dahomey saw a division of the country between different political/ethnic parties with one party representing the northern part of the country, one party representing the former Kingdom of Dahomey in the southwest, and one party representing Porto-Novo in the southeast. The result was a highly unstable system of governance with the leaders of each of these different parties struggling with each other for power. Hubert Maga from the north was deposed in a military coup in 1963 which eventually appointed Apithy from Porto-Novo and Ahomadégbé from the former kingdom of Dahomey as the divided rulers of the country. Ahomadégbé was eventually able to gain the support of Maga to gain the upper hand over Apithy and become the leader in the country only to be deposed two days later by the military. Five years of political instability, including multiple other military coups and a failed election eventually resulted in the 1970 Presidential election which largely divided the country and, when there was violence, the military annulled the results. In the political crisis that resulted, the military was able to get the three main candidates, Maga, Ahomadégbé, and Apithy to agree to form a Presidential Council with all three holding all executive and legislative authority.
In the charter of the Presidential Council, each of the three leaders would sit on a Presidential Council which would be tasked with approving all major policy decisions of the country. At the same time, each would get two years as the President of the country able to implement many of the ongoing tasks of managing the military and civil service in the country. The various ministerial positions would be divided between the three leaders; however, the Ministry of the Interior and the Minister of the Army would be appointed by the sitting president. It was decided that Maga would be the first President from 1970 until 1972, followed by Ahomadégbé until 1974, and then Apithy until 1976. One peaceful transition occurred with Hubert Maga giving power to Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin on 7 May 1972. However, stalled politics ensued with Maga and Apithy working to undermine Ahomadégbé's ability to govern and the Presidential Council was ended on 26 October 1972 when a military coup led by Mathieu Kérékou assumed power and ruled the country until 1991.
Background The colony of French Dahomey was created as a part of French West Africa in 1904. The colony was constructed of two coastal kingdoms with a long history of antagonism with one another (Dahomey and Porto-Novo) with a large area to the north controlled by a variety of mostly Mahi and Bariba peoples.
After World War II, the colonies of French West Africa began a 15-year process towards independence. French Dahomey, like many other colonies, saw domestic political parties emerge in the mid-1950s. However, in contrast to many of the other colonies, political parties in French Dahomey did not become predominant through the whole colony, but largely adhered to the precolonial regions. In the northern part of the country, the Groupement Ethnique du Nord and then the Rassemblement Démocratique du Dahomé led by Hubert Maga were the most dominant party. In the area that was formerly the kingdom of Dahomey, the Union Démocratique du Dahomé led by Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin became the most powerful party. And in Porto-Novo, the Parti des Nationialistes Dahoméens led by Sourou-Migan Apithy was the major party. Although there were some efforts by the various parties to become predominant throughout the colony, the division of the colony into three distinct spheres for the different parties had largely solidified by 1957. Apithy was the major political leader in the colony, being elected twice to the French National Assembly in 1946 and 1951. Maga was also elected in 1951 as the colony's second representative to the National Assembly.
Apithy won the 1958 election in the colony to select the Premier who would guide the country to independence and lead until the first elections.
Musical chairs (1960-1965) Executive Leader in Dahomey (1960-1972)(Note: Presidential Council Terms in olive)before August 1960Sourou-Migan Apithy, Premier31 December 1960 to 27 October 1963Hubert Maga, President27 October 1963 to 25 January 1964Christophe Soglo, head of military provisional government25 January 1964 to 27 November 1965Sourou-Migan Apithy, head of stateJustin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, head of government27 November 1965 to 29 November 1965Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, Prime Minister29 November 1965 to 19 December 1967Christophe Soglo, head of military provisional government19 December 1967 to 17 July 1968Alphonse Alley, head of military provisional government17 July 1968 to 10 December 1969Émile Derlin Zinsou, President10 December 1969 to 13 December 1969Maurice Kouandété, head of military provisional committee13 December 1969 to 7 May 1970Paul-Émile de Souza, head of military directory7 May 1970 to 7 May 1972Hubert Maga, President and head of Presidential Council7 May 1972 to 26 October 1972Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, President and head of Presidential Councilafter 26 October 1972Mathieu Kérékou, President Following independence in 1960, Dahomey had its first elections in December. As a result of Fon ethnic identification with Ahomadégbé and perceived corruption and ineffectiveness of the Apithy administration, Ahomadégbé made large gains in the Porto-Novo region traditionally aligned with Apithy. Apithy responded to this by making a parliamentary alliance with Maga which made Maga the first President of Dahomey and made Apithy the first Minister of Finance and then later the Vice President. To consolidate his power, Maga promoted a number of allies and people from the north through the new positions in the country's civil service. In addition, he tried to weaken his ally's political power by appointing Apithy to be the Ambassador of France while he was still the Vice President. Unfortunately giving political positions and channeling money to the north caused severe budgetary problems in the country which eventually led Maga to freeze wages for public employees leading to a general strike by unionists and students in October 1963. On 28 October, Christophe Soglo, the Army Chief of Staff, removed Maga from power and created a new system of government with Apithy being appointed the head of state and Ahomadégbé the head of government. However, the division between these roles and the responsibilities between the two leaders was not clearly defined. During the 1963 coup, Maga and many of his inner circle were arrested and tried for mismanagement of public funds.
In the new arrangement, Apithy and Ahomadégbéd wrestled constantly with one another for power. Seeing an opportunity to become the primary political power in the government, Ahomadégbé released Maga from prison and the coalition between the two leaders named Ahomadégbé the provisional president of the legislature on 27 November 1965. Soglo grew increasingly concerned with the situation and believed that Ahomadégbé was forming an alliance with Soglo's second in command (Colonel Philippe Aho, who was a Fon like Ahomadégbé). The result was that Soglo suspended the constitution and removed Ahomadégbé from power on 29 November. Following the 1965 coup, Apithy, Ahomadégbé, and Maga all went into exile in France. Soglo ruled for two years until union strikes and dissatisfaction within the ranks of the military led to the 17 December 1967 coup where two junior military officers, Maurice Kouandété and Mathieu Kérékou, overthrew Soglo and sent him into exile in France. Following the removal of Soglo from power, the military decided to transition to a civilian government and appointed Colonel Alphonse Alley, Soglo's chief of staff, as the provisional president until such a transition could occur. A new constitution was prepared and approved in a vote by 92% of the population in March 1968.
In the elections which followed to elect a civilian president, all former presidents, prime ministers, and ministers were prohibited from running. This excluded Apithy, Ahomadégbé, Maga, and former foreign minister Émile Derlin Zinsou from running for the position. Apithy, Ahomadégbé, and Maga declared a general boycott of the election which proved highly successful with only 33% of the eligible voters casting ballots. With such low turnout, the military invalidated the election results and, after consulting with unions and other activists in the country, the military selected Zinsou as the new president.
With the appointment of Zinsou as a civilian leader of the country, Apithy, Ahomadégbé, and Maga tried to return to the country but were informed that their plane would be shot down if they entered Dahomey airspace; they instead flew to neighboring Togo. Zinsou, who had a history of advocacy against the policies of the military, quickly drew the ire of the military leaders by pursuing a host of policies without consultation with them. In addition, to control continued deficits, Zinsou instituted a number of austerity measures and as a result alienated unions and the urban population. The result was that on 10 December 1969, Zinsou was taken into custody by military officers organized by Kouandété and Zinsou was sent to a remote military garrison near Natitingou. Following the coup, Kouandété found that he did not have the support to rule throughout the entire military, and so instead Paul-Emile de Souza (the director of military affairs for Zinsou's government) was named the provisional head of state as the head of a three-person Military directorate (with Kouandété and Colonel Benoît Sinzogan holding the other seats). The military directorate decided to release Zinsou and hold new presidential elections in 1970 without the restrictions of the 1968 elections, thus allowing Apithy, Ahomadégbé, and Maga to run.
1970 Election + 1970 Election Results(Note: Without votes from Atakora) Candidate Number of Votes Percentage Ahomadégbé 200,092 36.57% Apithy 176,828 32.32% Maga 152,551 27.88% Zinsou 17,653 3.22% The 1970 election included all of the civilian leaders of the country since independence with Apithy, Ahomadégbé, Maga, and Zinsou running against one another. The military decided to hold the elections on a staggered schedule with different areas of the country voting on different dates. This staggering meant that each of the candidates strategically tried to gain votes in later voting regions based upon the earlier results: bribery and irregularities in the election were rampant. Just before voting began in Atakora, the last department to vote which was a stronghold for Maga, Ahomadégbé supporters instigated violence to undercut turnout. Maga would have won the presidency if he had earned the most votes in Atakora, but instead of allowing the vote to go forward, de Souza suspended the election and immediately called on all sides to come to an agreement forming the next government.
The situation became quite tense with each of the sides making threats and refusing to meet with each other. Maga threatened that the north would secede if his victory was not validated, and Apithy threatened that his base of Porto-Novo would join with Nigeria. Ethnic tensions increased with these threats and with mass migration of people back to their traditional ethnic territories. Many inside the country considered Dahomey to be close to civil war.