Benin’s Electoral Commission has declared incumbent Patrice Talon the winner of the country’s Presidential election with 86 per cent according to provisional results and is expected to lead the West African nation for five more years.
Talon, a cotton tycoon was first elected in 2016. He faced two rivals in Sunday’s poll, with most of his key opponents in exile or disqualified from running.
According to the Autonomous National Electoral Commission, known by its French acronym, CENA. Talon got 1.98 million of ballots cast. His closest opponent, Alassane Soumanou, a former education minister, received 11.3% of voters’ support, and the only other candidate got 2.4%.
The opposition has not yet reacted to the announcement of this expected victory, but the opponent Alassane Soumanou, running against Mr. Talon and virtually unknown to the general public, had denounced “ballot box stuffing” and a non-transparent election.
Addressing the turnout of electorate during voting,observers from ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) said they had noted “a low voter turnout” followed by “a slight improvement,” and those of the International Organization of la Francophonie (OIF), noted a “relatively low voter mobilization throughout the day.
The Constitutional Court will have to verify these figures in the next few days and will pronounce the final results.