Benin: Yayi Wins Presidential Re-election
By Staff Writer
COTONOU - Benin's incumbent President Boni Yayi has won re-election with 53 per cent of the vote following March 13 polls. The official results announced Friday by the country's election commission, gave Yayi the ticket to avoid a run-off vote.
The election was highly predicted to raise the prospect of another contested election in West Africa.
Confirmation from the Country’s Constitutional court stated that President Yayi gained 1,579,550 votes, amounting to an absolute majority of ballots cast. His main challenger, Adrien Houngbedji, obtained 36 per cent of nearly three million ballots cast in the first-round vote.
Houngbedji has rejected the results given by the electoral commission head, alleging fraud in the ballot and claiming he had won the vote.
There were no immediate reactions from either camp to the constitutional court's announcement.
On Saturday, Houngbedji ran through a list of fraud accusations and accused Yayi of seeking to "assassinate democracy in our country."
He alleged that ballot boxes had been stuffed and hundreds of fake voting stations had been created.
"We have won these elections," Houngbedji told journalists. "We will demand what is owed to us."
Houngbedji has rejected the results given by the electoral commission head, alleging fraud in the ballot and claiming he had won the vote.
Tension seems to be building up following the announcement of Yayi as the winner late Friday. The West African bloc ECOWAS expressed "deep concern," while calling on candidates to abide by the results and settle disputes through legal channels.
Opposition supporters who are also members of the electoral commission had on Friday tried to stop the announcement of the results by blocking the door to where they were to be released, saying they disagreed with them.
Yayi's camp on Sunday said voters had spoken and also told opposition members to use only legal means to challenge results.
Voting day passed calmly in the former French colony of some 9.2 million people despite chaotic preparations that had caused two earlier postponements of the ballot.