1996 Beninese presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Benin in March 1996. The first round, held on 3 March, saw no candidate gain over 50% of the vote, resulting in a second round held on 18 March. Mathieu Kérékou, a former military dictator who had come second in the first round, was victorious in the second round, beating incumbent Nicéphore Soglo, after gaining the backing of the third- and fourth-placed candidates.[1] Kérékou received very strong support from northern voters,[2] but he also improved his performance in the south compared to the 1991 election.[1]

Soglo alleged fraud, but this was rejected by the Constitutional Court (who had annulled 22% of the votes in the first round),[3] which confirmed Kérékou's victory.[4] Voter turnout was 87.8% in the first round and 77.6% in the second round.[3]

Results

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Nicéphore Soglo	Benin Rebirth Party	596,371	35.69	904,626	47.51
	Mathieu Kérékou	Independent	567,084	33.94	999,453	52.49
	Adrien Houngbédji	Democratic Renewal Party	329,364	19.71
	Bruno Amoussou	Social Democratic Party	129,731	7.76
	Pascal Fontondji	Communist Party of Benin	17,977	1.08
	Lionel Agbo	Independent	15,418	0.92
	Léandre Djagoué	Independent	15,079	0.90
Total			1,671,024	100.00	1,904,079	100.00
Valid votes			1,671,024	75.55	1,904,079	97.20
Invalid/blank votes			540,653	24.45	54,776	2.80
Total votes			2,211,677	100.00	1,958,855	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			2,517,970	87.84	2,524,262	77.60
Source: Nohlen et al.

References

1. Kunle Amuwo, "The State and the Politics of Democratic Consolidation in Benin, 1990–1999", in Political Liberalization and Democratization in Africa (2003), ed. Ihonvbere and Mbaku.
2. World News Briefs; Benin Presidential Vote Heads for a Runoff The New York Times, 6 March 1996
3. Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p95 ISBN 0-19-829645-2
4. Benin, Year in Review: 1996 Britannica