Beninese presidential election, 1991

Presidential elections were held in Benin in March 1991, the first direct presidential elections since 1970. Elections under the military regime of Mathieu Kérékou had been indirect, with the president chosen by the National Assembly.

The first round, held on 10 March, saw no candidate receive more than 37% of the vote. Prime Minister Nicéphore Soglo led the field, with Kérékou in second place. The second round on 24 March resulted in a decisive victory for Soglo, with almost two-thirds of the vote to Kérékou's 32.5 percent. Voter turnout was 56.3% in the first round and 64.1% in the second.

The elections marked the first instance in post-colonial Francophone Africa that an opposition candidate won a free election.

Results

Candidate	Party	First round		Second round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Nicéphore Soglo	Union for the Triumph of Democratic Renewal	419,787	36.2	881,215	67.5
Mathieu Kérékou	Independent	315,079	27.2	423,501	32.5
Albert Tevoedjre	Our Common Cause	165,174	14.3
Bruno Amoussou	Social Democratic Party	66,053	5.7
Adrien Houngbédji	Democratic Renewal Party	53,187	4.6
Moise Mensah	Independent	39,984	3.4
Sévérin Adjovi	Liberal Democrats' Rally for National Reconstruction-Vivoten	30,710	2.7
Bertin Borna	Independent	18,578	1.6
Idelphonse Lemon	Independent	11,517	1.0
Assani Fasassi	Independent	10,393	0.9
Gatien Houngbédji	Democratic Union for Economic and Social Development	10,272	0.9
Robert Dossou	Alliance for Social Democracy	9,641	0.8
Thomas Goudou	Builders and Managers of Freedom and Development	8,041	0.7
Invalid/blank votes		19,340	–	10,417	–
Total		1,177,666	100	1,315,123	100
Registered voters/turnout		2,091,488	56.3	2,052,638	64.1
Source: Nohlen et al.