From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

2006 Beninese presidential election

none

Field	Value
country	Benin
type	presidential
previous_election	2001 Beninese presidential election
previous_year	2001
next_election	2011 Beninese presidential election
next_year	2011
election_date	5 March 2006 (first round)
19 March 2006 (second round)
turnout	81.40% (first round)
69.47% (second round)
image1	Yayi Boni.jpg
nominee1	Yayi Boni
party1	Independent politician
popular_vote1	1,979,305
percentage1	74.60%
image2
nominee2	Adrien Houngbédji
party2	Democratic Renewal Party (Benin)
popular_vote2	673,937
percentage2	25.40%
title	President
before_election	Mathieu Kérékou
before_party	FARD-Alafia
after_election	Yayi Boni
after_party	Independent politician

19 March 2006 (second round) 69.47% (second round)

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.

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; Yayi Boni won the election and took office in April.

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 CFA francs required of candidates. Another two candidates, Edgar Alias and Yaro Sourakatou, withdrew in favor of Boni prior to the ruling. The approved candidates included three serving members of Kérékou's government: Zul Kifl Salami, Antoine Dayori, and Kamarou Fassassi. Additionally, the Constitutional Court approved the candidacies of two heads of major institutions: those of Antoine Idji Kolawolé, the President of the National Assembly, and Raphiou Toukourou, the President of the Economic and Social Council.

Results

In the first round, held on 5 March, Boni, former chairman of the West African Development Bank, placed first with around 35% of the vote, and former President of the National Assembly Adrien Houngbédji of the Democratic Renewal Party placed second with around 24% of the vote. In third place was the Social Democratic Party's candidate Bruno Amoussou, a former speaker of parliament and planning minister who obtained around 16% of the vote, and in fourth place was Benin Renaissance candidate Lehady Soglo, son of former president Nicéphore Soglo, with around 8% of the vote. Boni was an independent candidate, and this was his first election; Houngbédji and Amoussou had both run for president three previous times.

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. He won the second round with almost 75% of the vote and was sworn in on 6 April.

References

[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=55408 Kerekou says will retire next year, will not change constitution to stay in power] IRIN, 12 July 2005
link. (March 20, 2008 Panapress, 30 January 2006 {{in lang). fr
[http://africanelections.tripod.com/bj.html Elections in Benin] African Elections Database
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=58325 Profiles of front-runners in presidential race] IRIN, 3 March 2006
[http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=58477 Rejecting appeal, government sets poll for 19 March] IRIN, 18 March 2006
(December 2016)

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

presidential-elections-in-benin 2006-elections-in-africa 2006-in-benin march-2006-in-africa

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 2006 Beninese presidential election — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report