Boni wins Benin presidential election: official (original) (raw)

Wednesday 22 March 2006Wed 22 Mar 2006 at 9:29pm

Thomas Yayi Boni, a former development banker, has been announced as the winner of Benin's presidential election, the election commission says.

It says with 74.51 per cent of votes based on 97.2 per cent of all ballots, Mr Boni took 1,969,308 votes in Sunday's run-off vote.

His rival, political veteran Adrien Houngbedji, garnered 673,763 votes, or 25.49 per cent of the total, Sylvain Nouwatin, head of Benin's independent electoral agency (CENA) says.

They were the final candidates following a first-round vote on March 5 to replace the small west African country's long-time leader Mathieu Kerekou.

International observers from the European Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United States have praised the polls and CENA's work under sometimes difficult circumstances.

Benin's electoral commission had to scramble to organise the second round after the incumbent Mr Kerekou, who has ultimate constitutional authority, ignored a ruling from the constitutional court to postpone the vote until Wednesday.

As a result many voters were informed only late on Saturday that the poll was to be held, and the electoral commission had to rush ballot papers across the country.

- AFP