The opposition party The Democrats says it does not recognize the provisional results of the legislative elections of January 8, 2023 proclaimed by the CENA. According to Eric Houndété and his teammates, these figures do not reflect the truth of the ballot box. This is why the political party intends to take the matter to the constitutional court to contest the results.
“The Democratic Party rejects this verdict which does not reflect the desire of the population to make our party the leading political force in our country”.,” said Eric Houndété, president of the party, during a press conference he held a few hours after the announcement of the provisional results. According to CENA statistics, the party of former president Boni Yayi obtained 28 seats in parliament while those of the presidential camp had 53 representatives for the UPR and 28 also for the BR.
According to Eric Houndété, The Democrats would be an alternative chosen by the people. “It is therefore quite natural that the results proclaimed today by the CENA appear to him as a denial of his will and a mockery of his sovereignty,” he said.
In his statement, the Democrats’ president accused President Talon’s parties of distorting the democratic game. He denounced, among other irregularities, the rigging of the code numbers on the ballot papers, which did not correspond to the codes in the booklets; the deliberate refusal to deliver copies of the counting and compilation reports to representatives of the LD party; and the fact that the number of voters exceeded the number of registered voters in some polling stations. “In view of all these breaches of the law, The Democrats party contests the results proclaimed by the CENA and demands that the truth of the ballot boxes be restored. It is for this reason that The Democrats Party is already working to lodge appeals with the Constitutional Court so that it is restored in its rights,” said Eric Houndété.