Presidential elections were held in

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

on 4 March 2001, with a second round run-off on 18 March. They controversially resulted in the re-election of

Mathieu Kérékou Mathieu Kérékou (; 2 September 1933 – 14 October 2015) was a Beninese politician who served as President of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and again from 1996 to 2006. After seizing power in a military coup, he ruled the country for 19 years, for ...

for a second term. Kérékou's rival

Nicéphore Soglo Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo (born November 29, 1934) is a Beninese politician who was Prime Minister of Benin from 1990 to 1991 and President from 1991 to 1996. He was Mayor of Cotonou from 2003 to 2015. Soglo was married to Rosine Vieyra Soglo, ...

, who had been president from 1991 to 1996, failed in his bid to reclaim the presidency; although he qualified to participate in the second round of the election against Kérékou, he refused to do so, alleging electoral fraud.

Adrien Houngbédji Adrien Houngbédji (born 5 March 1942) is a Beninese politician and the leader of the Democratic Renewal Party (''Parti du renouveau démocratique'', PRD), one of Benin's main political parties. He was President of the National Assembly of Benin ...

, the parliament speaker and third-placed candidate, also refused to participate in a second round. As a result, Kérékou faced fourth-place candidate

Bruno Amoussou Bruno Ange-Marie Amoussou (born 2 July 1939) is a Beninese politician who was President of the National Assembly of Benin from 1995 to 1999https://assemblee-nationale.bj/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Histoire-et-patrimoine.pdf and Minister of Stat ...

, who was planning minister and had already given his support to Kérékou, in the second round; Kérékou won an easy victory with 84% of the vote. After the election, it was revealed that the

Titan Corporation Titan Corporation was a United States-based company that started as a telecommunications defense contractor with its headquarters located in San Diego, California. It was acquired by L-3 Communications on June 3, 2005 for $2.65 billion and oper ...

, a defense contractor based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, had illegally provided $2 million to Kérékou's re-election campaign. The company pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $28.5 million in fines and civil penalties, the largest penalty under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act up to that point, for bribery and filing false tax returns.

Results

References

Presidential elections in Benin

2001 in Benin March 2001 events in Africa {{Benin-stub