Benin’s presidential election begins

Voting for the first round of Benin’s presidential election began on Sunday at most polling stations across the country.

Approximately five million voters are expected to take part in the first round of voting at 15,531 polling stations throughout the country and 11 others in seven foreign countries.

According to the new electoral law, the President and Vice President are elected by direct universal suffrage for a term of five years and can only be re-elected once.

For this purpose, three pairs of candidates participated in this election.

The incumbent President Patrice Talon and his running mate Mariam Talata will face the opposition duo Corentin Kohoue-Irene Agossa of the Dynamics Restoring Confidence party (RLC) and Alassane Soumanou-Paul Hounkpe of Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin (FCBE).

Polling started at 7.00 a.m. local time and was expected to last nine hours.