Les Democrates, Benin Republic’s main opposition party has rejected provisional results from Sunday’s parliamentary election.
Benin’s electoral body said the party won 28 seats in the 109-member parliament. This is the first time its members will be represented in the chamber, in four years.
Spokesman for Les Democrates, Eric Houndete accused the commission of misrepresenting results in order to minimise the opposition’s parliamentary representation.
Speaking after observing the election process in Cotonou, H.E. Raimundo Pereira, Head of the ECOWAS-EOM, thanked the people and government of the Republic of Benin for a peaceful election. “Generally, the election was conducted in a calm and peaceful atmosphere”, he added.
81 seats in the vote went to allies of President Patrice Talon, however the final results are expected later this week.
Benin’s opposition was in effect barred from running in the 2019 legislative elections with most of Talon’s opponents imprisoned or exiled.