Benin’s President Patrice Talon wins re-election with 86%

Benin’s electoral commission has declared incumbent Patrice Talon the winner of the country’s presidential election with 86 percent of the votes in the first round of a ballot boycotted by some opposition parties.

Talon, a cotton tycoon first elected in 2016, faced two rivals in Sunday’s poll, with most of his key opponents in exile or disqualified from running.

His opponents, Alassane Soumanou and Corentin Kohoue, got 11.29 and 2.25 percent respectively, according to provisional results announced by the commission on Tuesday. Turnout was about 50.17 percent.

Benin’s constitutional court must verify the final results.

With Talon almost guaranteed victory, analysts had said voter turnout would be a key measure of the 62-year-old’s election success.

Three international observer missions had already noted low turnout in the election, though they said the vote generally went ahead peacefully despite tensions and protests in the lead up.

Critics say Benin, once praised as a vibrant multi-party democracy, has veered onto an authoritarian path under Talon with a steady campaign against his political foes.