Benin: President Patrice Talon Reelected With 86% Of The Vote

Beninese President Patrice Talon was reelected without surprise, with 86% of the vote, according to the provisional results announced Tuesday evening April 13 by the Electoral Commission, in a ballot where the Head of State faced candidates from the opposition almost unknown. “The duo Patrice Talon and Mariam Talata (candidate for the vice-presidency at his side) obtained from the first round the majority of the votes cast” declared Geneviève Boko Nadjo, the vice-president of the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA). She also said the turnout was 50.17%.

For their part, observers from ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) said they had observed “a low rate of voter turnout” followed by “a slight improvement”, and those of the Organization. Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), noted a “relatively low mobilization of voters throughout the day”. The Constitutional Court will have to verify these figures in the coming days and will pronounce the final results.

Alassane Soumanou had denounced “ballot box stuffing”

Patrice Talon, a wealthy businessman who made a fortune in cotton, is accused of engaging Benin in an authoritarian turn and of having no opposition in Parliament, the Constitutional Court or the communes, almost all exclusively acquired from the ruling party. The opposition has not yet responded to the announcement of this expected victory, but the opposition Alassane Soumanou, vying for Patrice Talon and virtually unknown to the general public, had denounced “ballot box jams” and a non-transparent election.

Reacting to his allegations and videos of social media fraud, Alain Orounla, the government spokesman, said on Tuesday, shortly before the results were announced, that “the purpose (of the perpetrators of the frauds) was actually to discredit the electoral process after failing in their project to destabilize the country, ”and assured that they would be prosecuted.

The absence of major opposition figures

Violence erupted last week and left at least two dead in Savè, in the center-north, the stronghold of former President Thomas Boni Yayi, a major political and economic opponent of the current head of state. The election was canceled in the neighboring towns of Tchaourou, Bantè and Houesse, announced the CENA, believing that it had not been able to take place in good conditions.

According to a journalist from Agence France-Presse on site, the polling stations remained empty all day Sunday. Ballot boxes were sometimes burned by strangers and people remained holed up at home after several days of tension and violence. The re-election in the first round of President Patrice Talon is unsurprising, the major opposition figures being either in exile or incarcerated, disqualified or prevented from participating in the election.

“The results are already known in advance”

Opponents had also called for a boycott of the ballot, denouncing an election won in advance, with a president “facing himself”. “This election was folklore,” regrets Georges Kpatchavi, a 42-year-old restaurateur. “We do not wait for the results because they are already known in advance. An opinion shared by many in Cotonou, the economic capital of a country long seen as a model of democracy, where the streets were unusually quiet.

Patrice Talon said he wanted to engage Benin in development and the West African country is recording rather good growth rates in a context of global economic crisis (5% forecast for 2021). He declared last Friday during his last campaign meeting that his victory “by KO” would be no doubt and that “the projects started would be finished. ”