Presidential elections were held in Benin on 6 March 2016, having been delayed by one week due to logistical constraints.^[1] Incumbent President Thomas Boni Yayi was at the end of his second presidential term and was constitutionally barred from running for a third. The elections grabbed the interest of many of the country's top businessmen, resulting in over 30 candidates trying to run for the presidency.^[2] A second round was held on 20 March,^[3] in which businessman Patrice Talon defeated Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou.

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

2016 Beninese presidential election

← 2011 6 March 2016 (first round) 20 March 2016 (second round) 2021 →

Nominee Patrice Talon Lionel Zinsou Party Independent FCBE Popular vote 2,030,941 1,076,061 Percentage 65.37% 34.63%

President before election Yayi Boni FCBE Elected President Patrice Talon Independent

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During 2015 and 2016 the leaders of some African countries undertook efforts to remain in power after decades of rule; a referendum in Rwanda resulted in Paul Kagame being allowed to remain in power, there was unrest in Burundi over President Pierre Nkurunziza's plans to run for a third term, whilst the long-term presidents of Uganda and the Republic of the Congo ran for office again. However, in West Africa, the long-term president of Burkina Faso was removed from office and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan left office after losing an election.^[4]

The body charged with producing the new voter cards failed to live up to their deadlines of distributing cards.^[5] This caused the Constitutional Court to first delay the elections by a week, and then make the ruling that old voter cards issued prior to the 2011 elections would also be accepted as the court feared that voters might be disenfranchised.^[6]

Campaigning was only permitted for a 15-day period directly before the elections. The Constitutional Court sanctioned a campaign period from 19 February to 4 March 2016.^[7]

Provisional results released on 8 March 2016 showed Lionel Zinsou placing first with 28.4% of the vote. Patrice Talon placed second with 24.8% and Sebastien Ajavon placed third with 23.03%. Zinsou was therefore expected to face Talon in a second round of voting.^[13]

For the second round, Talon received the support of 24 out of 32 of the defeated first round candidates. Most notably, he received the backing of Ajavon. The second round was held on 20 March 2016. Saying that the results "point to a decisive victory for Patrice Talon", Zinsou quickly conceded defeat and congratulated Talon.^[14]

The Constitutional Court validated the results on 25 March.^[15]

Speaking on the same day that the Constitutional Court confirmed the results, Talon said that he would "first and foremost tackle constitutional reform", discussing his plan to limit presidents to a single term of five years in order to combat "complacency". He also said that he planned to slash the size of the government from 28 to 16 members.^[15] He was sworn in on 6 April 2016,^[16] and the composition of his government was announced later in the day. There was no prime minister, and two defeated presidential candidates who had backed Talon in the second round, Pascal Koupaki and Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane, were appointed to key posts: Koupaki as Secretary-General of the Presidency and Bio-Tchane as Minister of State for Planning and Development.^[17]