Benin starts legislative elections

COTONOU, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- People of Benin went to vote in legislative elections Sunday.

At 7 a.m., local time, the vote began under the supervision of observers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and representatives of seven contesting political parties in the country.

Beninese President Patrice Talon said Sunday that he was satisfied with the entire electoral process underway for the legislative ballot.

"The process is going well, I believe that we are definitively turning the bad pages of the political history of our country," he said after voting at a primary school in Cotonou, the largest city of Benin.

Around 6.6 million Beninese voters are expected to vote in the 17,749 polling stations across the country, to elect 109 deputies from 1,526 candidates representing the seven contesting political parties.