-
Benin: President Talon Re-Elected
Agenzia Fides, 15 April 2021
Patrice Talon, outgoing President of Benin, obtained a second term in the elections held on Sunday 11 April. This was announced by the Electoral Commission according to which Talon… Read more »
-
Benin: Country Votes in First Round of Presidential Elections Amid Calls for Calm
RFI, 11 April 2021
Elections are underway in Benin where President Patrice Talon is seeking re-election in what is described as a tense ballot, with critics accusing him of rigging the race in his… Read more »
-
Benin: Benin Holds Presidential Election After a Week of Violence
VOA, 11 April 2021
Benin voters are casting their ballots Sunday in a presidential election after a week of deadly violence against President Patrice Talon, who is seeking reelection. Read more »
-
Benin: Benin's Democracy Hangs in the Balance On Election Weekend
DW, 10 April 2021
Incumbent President Patrice Talon is poised for reelection in the West African country. But reforms to Benin's electoral system have stacked the odds in his favor at the expense of… Read more »
-
Benin: A Third Election Without Main Opposition Parties
ISS, 8 April 2021
On 11 April, Benin will hold its seventh presidential election since the 1990 national conference that paved the way for the country's peaceful transition from military… Read more »
-
US-Africa Cybersecurity Group, 15 February 2021
If you are a keen observer of Beninese politics in these tumultuous times of pre-electoral turmoil, you have surely already seen the recent video of the interview with Dakpè… Read more »
-
Africa: Elections and Instability As Africa Enters 2021
ISS, 12 January 2021
No fewer than 10 presidential elections are planned for 2021 - in Benin, Cape Verde, Chad, The Gambia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, the… Read more »
-
Benin: Crisis of Confidence in Benin Deepens
ISS, 17 December 2020
The African Court’s recent decision could see a political standoff ahead of presidential elections in April 2021. Read more »
President Wins Second Term in Benin Elections
Benin's President Patrice Talon has been re-elected for a second term, provisional results show, after a weekend election critics said was stacked in his favour following a crackdown on his opponents, France24 reports. Talon won 86.3% of the vote, the electoral commission said as it announced preliminary results, while his opponents Alassane Soumanou and Corentin Kohoue got 11.29 and 2.25% respectively. Benin's constitutional court must verify the final results. More than 4.9 million people were eligible to vote across 15,531 polling stations on April 11, 2021.
The presidential election is the country's seventh since the 1990 national conference that paved the way for a peaceful transition from military dictatorship to democracy. The country gained the reputation of being a beacon of democracy in West Africa for holding successive inclusive elections and ushering in peaceful transfers of power. However this image was tarnished by the 2019 violence that followed the legislative election, where security forces killed at least four protesters. The absence of opposition parties from three consecutive elections since 2019, undermines the country's democratic progress, write David Zounmenou, Jeannine Ella Abatan and Michaël Matongbada from the Institute for Security Studies.
