ECOWAS reacts to attempted assassination of presidential candidates for Benin election

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has reacted to the attempted assassination of one of the presumed candidates in the presidential election of the Republic of Benin.

ECOWAS made this reactions when it conducted a pre-electoral mission from 11 to 12 February, in Cotonou, capital city of the Republic of Benin.

According to a statement by the ECOWAS Director of Communications, Arthur Obayuwana on Saturday, the mission are currently having an ongoing investigations of the assassination case.

The Mission encouraged the authorities to continue with the investigations, in order to shed light on the conditions of the attack and sanction the perpetrators.

The Republic of Benin is scheduled to hold a presidential election on April 11, 2021.

The mission which was led by H.E. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Republic of Ghana and Chairperson of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, was aimed to exchange views with the main Beninese electoral stakeholders to assess the level of preparation of the institutions and socio-political actors to ensure the conduct of an inclusive, free, fair, transparent, credible and peaceful presidential election.

During the visit, the mission discussed the political reforms undertaken by the Government to facilitate the electoral process and welcomed the overall progress made in that regard.

It also took note of the security measures undertaken by the authorities to ensure a secure electoral process, including security of candidates, security of electoral materials and observers, as well as all stakeholders involved in the electoral process.

ECOWAS urged all socio-political actors to engage in dialogue in order to create conducive conditions for the conduct of credible and inclusive elections and thus strengthen the climate of peace in the country.

The Mission renewed the support of ECOWAS to the people and authorities of the Republic of Benin and announced the deployment of an electoral observation mission for the presidential election of April 11, 2021.

Botchway was accompanied by H.E. Jean-Claude Kassi BROU, President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mrs. Halima AHMED, Commissioner in charge of Finance at the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador Blaise DIPLODJOMAND, Resident Representative of ECOWAS Commission in the Republic of Benin, as well as ECOWAS technical staff.

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The president of Benin, Patrice Guillaume Athanase Talon, President of the Republic expressed his appreciation for the initiative, and explained the rationale for the implementation of the electoral reforms.

He assured the Mission of the Government’s commitment to continue to work with the relevant stakeholders for the effective conduct of an inclusive, free, fair, credible, transparent and peaceful election.

Among other stakeholders the Mission visited include: the President of the Constitutional Court; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation;
Minister of Interior and Security; Chairman of the Electoral Commission (CENA) and Chairman of COS-LEPI (The Supervision and Orientation Council for the Permanent electronic voting list).

The mission also met a delegation of the ruling Party and its affiliates, a delegation of political parties from the opposition, and representatives of civil society.

And members of the diplomatic corps and the representative of the international community accredited to the Republic of Benin.