Counting underway after calm vote, but worries persist

Counting was underway on Monday in Benin after a calm though at times chaotic presidential poll seen as critical to the future of the tiny West African nation. Turnout was high and there were few reported problems in the Sunday election, but in some regions voters queued well into the night due to delays in getting ballots, ink and boxes to the 17,849 polling stations across the country. “I am pleased by the massive turnout,” said the head of Benin's National Electoral Commission, Sylvain Nouwatin. “Provisional results will be announced in all transparency.” Early figures showed banker Yayi Boni, a newcomer to the political scene, and veteran politician and former cabinet minister Adrien Houngbedji leading the field of the 26 candidates bidding to step into the shoes of incumbent President Mathieu Kerekou. Unless one of the candidates is declared outright winner with more than 50 percent of the vote, a run-off will be held for this fourth presidential election since 1990. Kerekou, who is barred from standing by a constitutional age limit of 70, has dominated Beninese political life for three decades, first as Marxist military ruler and from 1990 as the motor behind the restoration of multiparty politics. But concerns about whether he will finally relinquish his hold are clouding the election. On casting his vote on Sunday, Kerekou warned against fraud, deploring the loss of a million voting papers and the record number of 4,021,626 eligible voters, a figure that analysts and politicians alike say is far too high in this country of some seven million people. “We will not choose a president in the darkness in Benin,” Kerekou said. “We will have total transparence. If needed we will do as already done in the United States, we will take three to four months to check the votes.” While some observers lauded Kerekou for underlining Benin’s commitment to the democratic process, others expressed fears that in a case of rigging, the outgoing president could decide to hold on to power. “This is a threat to democracy,” said Reckya Madougou of a rights group called ELAN that lobbied against a bid to change the constitution in 2004. Voters in Benin, which is proud of its democracy, turned out early on Sunday to cast their ballots. But while booths opened on schedule in the north, there were long delays and late-night voting in parts of southern Benin, mainly in the town of Ouidah and around the main city Cotonou with voting papers, official stamps and even voting registers missing. “We have been queuing for six hours and have not had anything to eat,” said voter Charles Soumanou in the suburb of Atrokpokodji outside Cotonou. One of the two women running for head of state, Marie-Elise Gbedo, said voting in her constituency began at 5pm. Security forces were on standby throughout the day and were called in for a few cases of fraud in Cotonou and arrests in Godome and Mono. But the head of a 158-member international observer mission, Patrick Houessou, said after receiving reports from 820 polling stations, that “voters were calm and intelligent.”