Benin’s President Patrice Talon has pledged to prosecute and punish those responsible for the pre-election violence that erupted in the country’s central region, a day after he was re-elected with more than 86% of the vote.
Despite the victory, Benin was without violence, and also without celebration. The re-election of Patrice Talon, who faced two candidates unknown to the general public, did not surprise many people in this West African country.
Talon did not give a speech thanking his voters, but he went to the hospital to visit members of the police force injured during pre-election protests that broke out in several communes in the centre of the country, a stronghold of former president Thomas Boni Yayi.
Protesters denouncing the lack of a credible opposition to the vote had set up roadblocks on major roads, cutting off traffic from the south to the north.
