2006 Beninese presidential election
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| Turnout | 81.40% (first round) 69.47% (second round) | ||||||||||||||||
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 Africa portal |
Presidential elections were held in Benin on 5 March 2006. Long-term president Mathieu Kérékou, who had led the country for all but four years since 1972, was barred from running for a third term. The constitution not only stipulated an absolute two-term limit, but required presidents to be 70 years old or younger when taking office; Kérékou had turned 70 in 2003. In July 2005, Kérékou signalled that he would not seek to change the constitution, as has been done in some other African countries, so that he could run again. Kérékou's long-time rival Nicéphore Soglo was also barred from standing due to his age.[1]
With the men who had been among the country's leading political figures since the return of democracy barred from running, the campaign had a level of openness and unpredictability not common for African presidential elections. Since no candidate won a majority, a second round was held between the two leading candidates on 19 March;
Candidates
A total of 33 candidate applications were registered with the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA). In a ruling issued on 30 January 2006, the Constitutional Court accepted 26 candidacies, as the candidacies of Daniel Shalom, Vincent Emmanuel Ahounou, and Adébayo Ananie were rejected because they were deemed medically unfit for the presidency, while the candidacies of Lary Egoundoukpè and Alidou Tamama were rejected because they had not paid the deposit of five million
Results
In the first round, held on 5 March, Boni, former chairman of the
Shortly after results were announced in mid-March, the government set the date for the second round between Boni and Houngbédji for 19 March. The country's election commission asked for more time, but this was refused. Boni was backed for the second round by both Amoussou and Soglo.[5] He won the second round with almost 75% of the vote[3] and was sworn in on 6 April.[6]
| Candidate | Party | First round | Second round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
Galiou Soglo | Independent | 5,243 | 0.17 | |||
| Léandre Djagoué | Rally of Liberal Democrats – Hêviosso | 4,665 | 0.16 | |||
| Marcel Gbaguidi | Independent | 3,479 | 0.12 | |||
| Raphiou Toukourou | Independent | 3,419 | 0.11 | |||
| Total | 3,002,489 | 100.00 | 2,653,242 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 3,002,489 | 94.14 | 2,653,242 | 97.45 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 186,777 | 5.86 | 69,564 | 2.55 | ||
| Total votes | 3,189,266 | 100.00 | 2,722,806 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 3,917,865 | 81.40 | 3,919,550 | 69.47 | ||
| Source: African Elections Database | ||||||
References
- ^ Kerekou says will retire next year, will not change constitution to stay in power IRIN, 12 July 2005
- ^ La Cour constitutionnelle retient 26 candidatures Archived March 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Panapress, 30 January 2006 (in French)
- ^ a b Elections in Benin African Elections Database
- ^ Profiles of front-runners in presidential race IRIN, 3 March 2006
- ^ Rejecting appeal, government sets poll for 19 March IRIN, 18 March 2006
- ^ Virgile Ahissou, Celebrations in Benin as Boni takes office [dead link] Associated Press, 7 April 2006
External links
- Achieving Transformational Democracy in Africa: Benin strikes again USAID
- Commission Electoral Nationale Autonome (in French)
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