Last campaign day before the presidential election on Sunday 11 April. Outgoing President Patrice Talon opposes two candidates, but none of the opposition’s major figures has been able to stand. Since the beginning of the week, the campaign has developed in the light of tensions. Scattered demonstrations took place to challenge the head of state. Violence also took place in the middle of the country. In Cotonou and in the regions, the three pairs of candidates held their latest campaign meetings.
With our special correspondent in Cotonou, Magali Lagrange
The outgoing president, Patrice Talon, spoke at length in the Fon language in front of an audience acquired in an area of Godomey. Jean Baptiste Adjovi, from the UP party who supports him, is convinced that he will win on Sunday.
Another activist says that the Beninese will go out to vote and that everything will go well despite the tensions and violence that have taken place since the beginning of the week, in some cities in the country.
A situation mentioned by Corentin Kohoué, a candidate excluded from the Democratic Party, in a field in Gbegamey. He urges the president to resolve things peacefully and says that if the violence does not stop, he will be forced to withdraw from the election process. An activist present, 55 years old, explains that he has never seen such a campaign in Benin.
The third duo, from the FCBE party: Alassane Soumanou and his helmsman Paul Hounkpè ended their campaign in their respective strongholds, in Djougou and in Mono.
Dams and tensions
The last days of the election campaign were marked by tensions and violence, for which no official results were communicated. Scattered mobilizations began overnight Monday through Tuesday, a date that marks Patrice Talon’s five years in power, and that protesters are therefore considering the end of his term.
In the center and north of the country, protesters set up roadblocks on the road connecting Savè to Parakou. On Thursday, the army intervened. In Savè, she fired live ammunition. The charge is at least two dead and four injured. On the power side, it is specified that the demonstrators are also armed, that the soldiers are only fighting back and that they have also been wounded in their ranks. Friday, tensions and barriers remained on the same axis, further north.
Among voters, some are developing a campaign never seen in Benin, which takes place in the absence of the opposition’s heavyweights. Twenty cases have been declared invalid and only three candidates are on their way to 33 during the last presidential election in 2016.
One of the campaign’s challenges was, for Patrice Talon and his opponents, qualifying as opponents to persuade voters to vote, while turnout was around 27% during the 2019 law election, according to figures from the Constitutional Court.
This is the first time they (the opponents) have been clearly excluded from the election game in relation to the presidential election by the law and the institutions. (…) It is democracy under arms. The power we have is anxious to restore its authority by all means except dialogue.
Ralmeg Gandaho, President of the NGO Social Change Benin
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