Can Former Benin President Yiya Run Again
Republic of benin election: The fight for a democratic future
Prototype source, Getty Images
Election officers put ink on voters fingers to make sure they don't vote twice
Early indications evidence voter turnout was low in Benin's presidential election, where polling stations have at present airtight.
In the run-upward to the ballot, protests over President Patrice Talon's broken promise to serve only one term in office left two people dead.
After voting himself, President Talon called on his fellow citizens to come up out and vote.
But opposition campaigners had called for a boycott and streets were quiet on Sunday, especially in anti-regime strongholds.
The head of the electoral commission said virtually polling stations had opened on time despite opposition supporters blocking roads to northern and central Benin.
Who were the candidates?
There were just two other candidates on the ballot, besides President Talon.
Alassane Soumanou of the opposition FCBE party is a former minister, while Corentin Kohoué is seen every bit more of a wildcard.
Several cardinal opposition figures - including an ex-prime minister and a former mayor of the biggest urban center Cotonou - accept either been arrested and ruled ineligible or are now in exile.
But a government spokesman has told the BBC "no-1 is excluded from this election".
Image source, AFP/Facebook
Alassane Soumanou (L) and Corentin Kohoué are the sole opposition candidates
"We do not demand every person in Benin to run as candidates in an election for it to be representative. Once yous accept the ruling party and the opposition represented, an election is complete - and the democratic system is operational," Communication Minister Alain Arounla said.
What happened in the protests?
Many in Republic of benin question the legitimacy of the ballot and some fear more violence could intermission out, reports the BBC'due south Lalla Sy who was recently in Cotonou.
Two people were killed in the town of Savè on Thursday, officials say, when security forces broke upwards a protest. Health workers written report that some other six people suffered gunshot wounds.
Demonstrations also happened in the cities of Cotonou, Parakou and three other towns.
Paradigm source, AFP
Demonstrators blocked this route in the town of Toui on Wednesday
"Nosotros want the president to go out. Five years means five years," Cotonou protester Rodrigue Amadou told Reuters news agency.
The regime accept defendant the protesters of starting the violence, saying the security forces were assaulted past drugged and armed youths. But others say it is an example of how Benin has become more disciplinarian under President Talon'due south rule.
BBC
I don't know when I will recover, she was my only sister"
Some see parallels with the exclusion of all opposition parties from parliamentary elections back in 2019, which sparked protests where security officers opened fire on protestors and a mother of vii died after being shot in the back.
Prudence Amoussou became a symbol of those protests, and her sister Léocadie Cakpo recently told the BBC: "I am deeply hurt in my centre. I don't know when I will recover from this. She was my just sister."
What's at stake for Republic of benin?
Benin was in the vanguard of a new wave of multiparty commonwealth which spread across the continent 30 years ago and was dubbed the birthplace of African multiparty commonwealth.
Those polls in 1991 saw Benin's one-time President Mathieu Kérékou become the first Due west African leader to acknowledge defeat in an election.
Since so Republic of benin had been regarded as a democratic model with several African nations replicating its reconciliation trunk, the National Briefing of Agile Forces of the Nation.
Merely this reputation soured in 2019 when new electoral laws meant a political political party had to pay most $424,000 (£328,000) to field a list for the 83-seat parliament. That year saw a tape low voter turnout.
BBC
Benin no longer knows how to organise elections"
Benin's parliament is currently completely controlled by the government, our reporter says, and the opposition say that their main representatives have been prevented from taking role in these latest polls, including constitutional lawyer Joël Aïvo.
"In five years, President Talon's then-called political reforms accept squandered the legacy of the National Briefing. Benin no longer knows how to organise elections," he told the BBC.
The authorities says the opposition is represented and the democratic system is working.
In reference to the president breaking his promise to get out office after a single term, Mr Talon's communication advisor Wilfried Houngbedji told AFP he had come to "power with a touch of evangelism" but subsequently "became more realistic".
Who else was ruled out of the race?
Image source, Diverse/BBC
L-R: Sébastien Ajavon, Lionel Zinsou, Léhady Soglo, Reckya Madougou
- Sébastien Ajavon - a businessman who came third in 2016'due south presidential election, at present in exile
- Lionel Zinsou - the quondam prime number minister was defendant of campaign overspends then barred from running for office for four years
- Léhady Soglo - ex-Cotonou mayor and son of a former president, at present living in exile and sentenced in absentia to x years in jail for "abuse of office"
- Reckya Madougou - presidential candidate for The Democrats political party, defendant of terrorism
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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56690689
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