Yesterday evening, Benin's Constitutional Court approved the provisional results of the April 11 presidential election. Talon's re-election sounded the death knell for Joël Aïvo, an opponent whose candidacy had been rejected.
After his presidential candidacy was rejected by the National Autonomous Electoral Commission (CENA), Beninese opponent Joël Aïvo, alias "The Professor", was arrested by the authorities. This interpellation comes a few minutes after the confirmation of the provisional results of the election by the Constitutional Court. Patrice Talon will therefore carry out a second term, without much surprise. Since the end of the ballot, the Beninese president had announced that he would track down those responsible for the violence observed during the opposition demonstrations in recent days.
So Patrice Talon decided to make the political scene obsolete by throwing his opponents one by one behind bars. Like Reckya Madougou, Joseph Tamegnon and Alexandre Hountondji, Joël Aïvo could well be the next to end up in a Beninese prison.
Talon takes it all ... and all
Patrice Talon won the election with 86,3% of the vote in the ballot last Sunday. Opposition leaders say they boycotted the vote after the president's crackdown pushed most of them into exile. The most stubborn were disqualified from the ballot. Opponents excluded from the presidential election after electoral law reforms wanted to flee Benin. However, the popular protests on April 5 and 6 earned them the president's ire. The cotton magnate, who is therefore entering his second term, threatened them after the Sunday poll. Talon declared: "Those who were the perpetrators or the instigators of the violence will have to answer for it".
Yesterday, shortly after the decision of the Constitutional Court to validate the provisional results, Joël Aïvo was arrested. In a scenario very similar to the arrest of Reckya Madougou, his relatives believed in a kidnapping. The authorities made no statement and Aïvo's driver and bodyguard were later released.
In a publication on his Facebook page, Joël Aïvo had denounced "the criminalization of political activity" or "the wave of arrests which takes the opponents of the president". With a possibility that any opponent could appeal the decision of the Constitutional Court for 5 days, Talon seems to want to secure his back. Although there is now no one left to attempt such madness.
Another member of the Beninese opposition was unable to stand for Sunday's elections. Reckya Madougou was arrested last month. She is being held on charges of possible “terrorist acts”. Two people were subsequently shot dead when soldiers opened fire to disperse a demonstration. Talon's government said security forces responded to provocations and threats.
Formerly hailed for its pluralism and relative democracy, Benin has gradually tipped into authoritarianism. Between killed demonstrators, imprisoned opponents, judges and intellectuals on the run abroad, the image of the country continues to sink. In his election day speech, Patrice Talon responded to these accusations. "It is a controversy which amuses those who maintain it and which, for the nation, does not have much importance".