CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Michel Tchanou, Benin, April 1999
THEME = ELECTIONS
The results of the recent election
once again brought Nicéphore Soglo onto the political stage
People didn't give much hope for former president Nicéphoro Soglo's political party, the Renewal Party of Benin (RB). It was undermined by internal disputes resulting in a whole series of resignations. Indeed, just before the elections, it was thought of as being very much in the trough of the wave. Mr Soglo's opponents put it this way with a certain irony: "The river is drying up so the does must seek other watering holes". This was a reference to Mr Soglo's own statement when he was still Head of State: "The doe doesn't get angry against the river". A word of explanation: The does are those political parties supporting Mr Soglo. The river - that's the power he held, indeed, embodied, when Head of State. These expressions have now become part and parcel of ev-eryday language.
But on the 30 March, date of the parliamentary elections, the water once again began to flow in the river - to the great satisfaction of those "does" who remained faithful to the party and its chief.
To most politicians' surprise, including, it must be admitted, its own supporters and leaders, the RB won 27 parliamentary seats out of 83.The RB made an el-ectoral break-through in Cotonou, Benin's capital, by grabbing eight of the nine seats on offer. The one seat still available went to the RB's ally-in-opposition, the Party for Democratic Renewal (PRD) led by Lawyer Adrien Houngbédji. Cotonou, the seat of government, thus fell into the Opposition's hands, following the example of Porto-Novo, the country's administrative capital. With its 27 seats, plus the PRD's 11, the RB only needs to persuade another party, the Alliance-Star, a Centre party which won 4 seats, to join in a political alliance, and the RB is home and dry with 42 members and allies in parliament.
For the moment, Nicéphore Soglo, who took a very active part in the election campaign, is savouring his victory. In 1996, Benin's electorate refused to place their confidence in him, but now they seemed to have recognised their mistake. Looking at the present chaotic political situation in which the country has been plunged, the Béninois realised they had backed the wrong horse. It's true the average citizen credited Mathieu Kérékou, who had already led the country for many years, with respecting fundamental freedoms and all the benefits accruing from the National Conference. But, regarding the economy, the Kérékou government has shown it has its limits.
First rumblings of discontent came from Kérékou's own ministers and close colleagues. Being in a position to profit from their position, one would have thought their re-election would have been an easy matter. No way! as the recent election results showed. Twelve ministers offered themselves for re-election to parliament - only half of them succeeded. The fact that half failed, speaks for itself.
Let's take a close look at some of these unfortunates, Séverin Adjovi was campaign manager for Kérékou himself during the 1996 presidential elections. While he was in Opposition, he succeeded each time in "pulling it off". This time, he was decimated and even ridiculized by the RB.
Check...check also for the young minister, Christian Lagnidé, owner of a private television station, LC2, with a large viewing audience. Presenting himself as parliamentary candidate with an eye to the youth, Christian Lagnidé came a cropper in Cotonou, in spite of a stentorian election campaign on TV. Since then, people have been wondering what's to become of this businessman, a real "self-made man", who, for many Béninois, was invited to enter Kérékou's government so the Head of State could control his TV station.
Check...check also for Damien Zinsou Alahassa, who was seen as the one man able to reduce Mr Soglo's influence in his own region.
Now the parliamentary elections are over, all eyes are on the year 2001 which marks the end of Mathieu Kérékou's five- year term of office. Don't let's forget that after a year of leading a transition government, Nicéphoro Soglo, appointed Prime minister by the Sovereign National Conference, was elected President in March 1991. His adversary in these presidential el- ections was none other than Mathieu Kérékou, offering himself, once again, as a presidential candidate after 17 years in power during which he was undisputed master in his own household.
Five years later, in March 1996, with the support of a coalition of political parties whose only common political platform was to get into power once again, Mathieu Kérékou won the presidential election, ousting Nicéphoro Soglo. Soglo wasn't thrown out of office just because of his political balance sheet, but because of what people considered to be his arrogance, his self-satisfaction, his "clannish" running of the country. According to one of his strongest supporters, Mathieu Kérékou was returned to power "for a new transition period" to give the country time to recover from the Soglo regime. But three years on, and Kérékou's "bęte noire" is once again hammering at the gates of the presidential palace and parliament.
Public opinion, however is very divided. There are those who call for Nicéphore Soglo's return and those who want to escape once and for all, from the never-ending Kérékou- Soglo-Kérékou-Soglo cycle. For these people, each of the two men have had their chance. Allowing Soglo once again to take up the reigns of power could open the door for a settling of accounts. So, "no Soglo and no Kérékou". But who? Adrien Houngbédji or perhaps his rival, Bruno Amoussou, former Speaker of the National Assembly?
Not many have an answer. However, even if it would appear that Kérékou is heading in that direction, he hasn't yet declared himself a candidate for the 2001 presidential elections. Soglo has!
Kérékou's two remaining years in office as President look like being interesting ones!
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1999 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement