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afrol.com, 12 March - None of the candidates reached the 50 percent needed in the first round of Benin's presidential election, the Beninese Constitutional Court today confirmed. This should open for a re-run, although the Court later announced there had been irregularities and that it would count the votes again. A re-run between incumbent president, Mathieu Kerekou and his rival Nicephore Soglo was first set for 18 March. Now, there is however a possibility that a re-count will give victory to President Kerekou. The Constitutional Court this afternoon however stated it would control the votes a second time, as the National Autonomous Electoral Commission (CENA) was operating with a total number of votes significantly different from the Court's. AFP reported there could be a difference of up to 200,000 votes in the official total number of the two institutions - a number big enough to "modify the results" and influence whether there should be a a second round face-off or not. According to the first "official" numbers given, President Kerekou came close to winning the majority vote in the first round, obtaining 47,06 percent of the vote. On second place came ex-president Soglo, with 28,94 percent of the vote. If these results are verified, this will be the third occasion the two, old rivals meet each other, and where it take a second round to separate them. So far, they have won one election each. The two candidates reportedly already have started their bids for the support of the candidates that are out of the run. Adrien Houngbedji, which achieved 13.47 percent of the votes (according to the first, "official" numbers), has already declared he would support opposition candidate Soglo, stating he had been "campaigning for change, and between Kerekou and Soglo, it is Soglo representing change." General Kerekou ruled the country for 17 years as a Marxist dictator prior to introducing multi-party elections in 1991. With an electorate eager for change, Soglo, a retired international banker, swept Kerekou from power in Benin's first election in 1991. Kerekou made history in peacefully accepting his defeat and leaving power to Soglo. Five years later, in 1996, Kerekou regained his ascendancy at the polls. In the 2001 elections, both men have been running for their second and final term. Both have made the fight against corruption their most important campaign slogan.
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