Political newcomer in lead in first round of presidential poll

Boni Yayi, a former banker making a maiden bid for political office, has won the first round of Benin’s presidential elections, according to provisional results released on Monday. Yayi, who ran for the 5 March poll as an independent candidate backed by a coalition of groups and parties, won 35.6 percent of the vote, the National Election Commission (CENA) said late on Monday after counting 96.39 percent of the votes. The result puts him well ahead of runner-up Adrien Houngbedji with 24.23 percent, but short of the more than 50 percent needed for an outright win. That means that under Benin law there will be a second round run-off vote between the 54-year-old Yayi and Houngbedji, a lawyer and veteran politician of 64 who heads the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD). Yayi, who last month resigned from his job as chairman of the Togo-based West African Development Bank (BOAD) to run for the presidency, also edged out veteran political leader Bruno Amoussou, who garnered 16.52 percent of the vote. Lehady Soglo of the Renaissance Party trailed in fourth place with 8.54 percent. Turnout among the country’s four million eligible voters was high at 74.85 percent, according to the CENA. The second round is expected to be held two weeks after the official proclamation of the first round result by the Constitutional Court in the coming days. The presidential election marks a turning point for Benin, one of West Africa’s more democratic states since the introduction of multi-party politics in 1991. With incumbent President Mathieu Kerekou too old to run for re-election, the ballot has been viewed as the end of an era. Kerekou, a former military ruler who has held power for more than three decades, has been in office for two successive mandates, and concerns over whether he will finally relinquish power clouded the poll. On casting his vote, Kerekou warned against fraud, deploring the loss of a million voting papers. “We will not choose a president in the darkness in Benin,” he said. “We will have total transparency. If needed we will do as already done in the United States, we will take three to four months to check the votes.” In a response this weekend, CENA chairman Sylvain Nouwatin denied that 1.3 million voting cards had gone missing. “CENA has registered no moss or disappearance of voters’ cards,” he told journalists. International election observers gave the 5 March election their approval but several candidates are threatening to lodge complaints.