In Benin, the vote went ahead even in high-risk areas.
In Benin, the results of the legislative and municipal elections held last Sunday are expected in the coming hours. According to the Constitutional Court, their proclamation will take place no later than Thursday. This unprecedented double ballot took place in a particular security context, only a month after a coup attempt. Yet, this situation did not dampen voter turnout, including in areas considered sensitive.
In an interview given to Deutsche Welle, Gustave Assah, vice-president of the platform of civil society organizations, stressed the overall smooth conduct of the electoral process. According to him, voters properly understood the instructions related to the simultaneous holding of legislative and municipal elections. Thanks to awareness campaigns led by civil society and political parties, voters were able to distinguish the two ballot boxes and fulfill their civic duty without major difficulty. In 98% of polling stations, the people expressed themselves without worry, he said, noting that 1,200 citizen observers were deployed across the country.
However, malfunctions were reported, notably in the city of Cotonou and in the Atlantique Department. Gustave Assah cites delays due to late delivery of electoral equipment, problems related to identifying certain polling stations by QR code, and difficulties faced by electoral agents in reaching their centers. In certain neighborhoods of Cotonou, these delays were particularly pronounced, forcing voters to vote late into the night, sometimes until dawn, a situation described as “unprecedented” in Benin.
Asked about the impact of the security context, notably the recent coup attempt and the jihadist threat in some border areas, the civil society official sought to reassure. According to him, no notable correlation has been observed between these risks and voter turnout. Even in areas identified as at risk, polling stations remained accessible and the populations voted in large numbers.
“If the jihadists did not scare people, the coup attempt did even less”, he said.
As the presidential election scheduled in three months approaches, in the absence of the main opposition, Gustave Assah nevertheless wonders about the level of mobilization to come. If he rules out any major risk of unrest, he notes that the stakes are different and that the enthusiasm may not be comparable. Finally, regarding the recent electoral reforms, notably the increase in the number of endorsements, he acknowledges that they have generated difficulties and excluded some actors, without, however, preventing the effective conduct of the elections. For him, these “zones of turbulence” also constitute stages of democratic maturity, calling for a gradual adaptation of the populations and institutions in order to durably consolidate the electoral process in Benin.
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