and reorganised Dahomey into one electoral constituency. It was proposed that there would be an agreed list of electoral candidates, and that all of the legislative seats would be given to the party with the highest number of elected representatives from that list. This arrangement did not last long; Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin broke from the union and, using the discontent among people over the increasing rarity of jobs in the country, incited demonstrations that lasted from September to October 1960. He nevertheless tried to disassociate himself from the rioting. In September, he claimed that a single party state was the only solution to the stagnation of the economy. Since he had recently renounced one party, he was looking for another party to lead. Dahomey faced a major economic recession. The country had not had a favorable trade balance since 1924, and now that it was independent, France no longer offered subsidies. Maga helped to counter this by investing in the infrastructure and encouraging civil servants to take Dahomey as their residence. Still, Dahomey's GDP grew by 1.4 percent annually from 1957 to 1965, making Dahomey's economy one of the weakest in Africa. Meanwhile, Maga made Houphouët-Boigny recognize the R.D.D. as the Dahomeyan wing of his African Democratic Rally (R.D.A.). Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin had always believed that the U.D.D. was the sole representative of the Rally. This had helped bring a new political philosophy to the R.D.D., which had, up to this point, done little more than express regionalism without much of a platform. At the end of October, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin convinced the trade unions that he controlled to begin another strike in protest against Maga's inability to promote national development, and to ensure the welfare of the working class. The strike lasted for two days in the cities of Porto Novo and Cotonou, and became so serious that the police used tear gas. It ended when Maga sent down faithful Northerners armed with bows and arrows to patrol the streets at night. On November 2, members of the U.D.D. organized a motion of censure in the National Assembly. Maga relied on Apithy's assistance in opposing the motion, and it was ultimately defeated. New constitution and official election Following the motion of censure's defeat, U.D.D. deputies began to resign from their jobs, and five were dismissed. They were replaced by deputies from the P.R.D. On November 13 the P.R.D. and R.D.D. officially merged to form the