Elections to the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

were held in French Dahomey and French Togoland on 21 October 1945. The territory elected two seats to the Assembly via two electoral colleges. French

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Francis Aupiais of the Popular Republican Movement was elected from the first college and Sourou-Migan Apithy in the second, but Aupiais died before taking office.

Background

Some residents of French Togoland opposed attempts to entrench French rule by allowing elections to the French National Assembly in what was a League of Nations mandate rather than a French colony. Petitions against French policy were sent to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

by the Ewe, who sought to be reunited with their brethren in British Togoland.

Campaign

Despite having left Dahomey seventeen years before the elections, Aupiais remained a popular figure in Dahomey, even amongst animists. Edward Mortimer (1969) ''France and the Africans 1944–1960: A political history'', Faber, p66 His former pupil Sourou-Migan Apithy benefitted from his association with Aupiais, although he had also become an important figure in his own right through his work on the Monnerville Commission, which had reported on the future of the French colonies.

Results

First College

Second College

Aftermath

Following the elections, Senegalese MP Lamine Guèye attempted to persuade all the African MPs to form an African Bloc, which would be affiliated with the SFIO. Although the attempt failed, Apithy did sit with the SFIO.Mortimer, p72

References

Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African List of kingdoms in Africa throughout history, kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in ...

French French French elections in Dahomey French elections in Togoland

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