Benin: controversy over the date of the end of the presidential mandate, incidents reported
The organization of the April 2021 presidential election is questioned by civil society organizations and the opposition to the outgoing president who is running for a new term (illustration of President Patrice Talon in August 2020) YANICK FOLLY / AFP
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3 min
In Benin, Patrice Talon has been in office for five years and the opposition does not want him to stay another second.
However, the modification of the Constitution and the electoral calendar, gives it an extension of a month and a half.
His political opponents in the diaspora are calling for people to take to the streets.
A delicate day which worries in Cotonou especially as incidents were reported during the night.
Publicity
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with our correspondent in Cotonou,
Jean-Luc Aplogan
Shortly after zero hours that night, protests were reported in several cities.
For example, tires were set on fire in the Place de l'Etoile Rouge in Cotonou, and a lane was blocked for a while in Tchaourou, the home town of former President Boni Yayi.
In Parakou, some 450 km north of Cotonou, individuals on foot and on motorcycles took to the streets chanting "Talon we must leave".
The police intervened to restore order and the firefighters to put out the tire fires.
Recall that the modification of the Constitution initiated by Patrice Talon in November 2019 changed the traditional dates of the electoral calendar concerning the presidential election and the entry into office of the elected president.
The new dates, April 11, for the vote and swearing in the fourth week of May.
An extension of almost a month and a half of days compared to the calendar of the old Constitution.
Call to demonstrate this Tuesday
A declaration of political exiles published this weekend in Paris recalled that
Patrice Talon
had taken the oath on April 6, 2016. They deduced that since this Tuesday morning April 6 at midnight, the latter is no longer president of Benin and becomes again " a normal citizen ”.
One of these opposition figures in exile, Komi Koutche, former Minister of Finance, calls for demonstrations in the four corners of Benin.
For the government spokesperson, it looks like a call for insurgency and the minister warns that the government will take its responsibilities.
In recent days, an army document has leaked on social networks informing that the senior military hierarchy has placed the troops on maximum alert number 3. It is classic during an election period plays down an officer.
This controversy is a misinterpretation, according to Alain Orounla, minister spokesperson.
“
The date of April 5 no longer has any meaning, nor any legal basis.
The electoral calendar was constitutionalized as well as its assumption of office by fundamental law today in force in Benin;
This Constitution is written in easy French
”.
"Whoever grants himself a few days can grant himself two years and even an additional mandate without election" worries the constitutionalist Joël Aivo, another
unsuccessful opposition candidate
.
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To read also
: Patrice Talon in active campaign for his re-election in Benin
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