By Virgile Ahissou
Cotonou - Voters in the West African nation of Benin cast ballots on Sunday for a new head of state, choosing among more than two dozen presidential hopefuls in a poll the country's two main political strongmen are barred from running in because of age limits.
Voters lined up at polling stations erected at schools and under trees in the open air, peacefully stamping ballot papers and dropping them into transparent plastic ballot boxes.
Some of the nations' 17 480 polling stations opened late because materials or electoral workers showed up late, but no serious problems were reported. Electoral officials say results could be released within several days.
Excluded from the poll are 73-year-old incumbent President Mathieu Kerekou, who has ruled Benin for all but five of the last 34 years since taking power in a 1972 coup. Also excluded: longtime opposition rival Nicephore Soglo, 72, the country's only other president since the 1970s.
Both are ineligible because the constitution bars candidates over age 70 from running.
In their place: a field of 26 hopefuls, no heir apparent, and an impoverished country praying a fresh face will ease unemployment and breathe new life into a sputtering agricultural-based economy.
Among the favourites: Soglo's son, Lehadi Soglo; former Prime Minister Adrien Houngbedji, who placed a distant third in the last two presidential votes; former national assembly president Bruno Amoussou, who was previously Kerekou's minister of state; and Yayi Boni, former head of the West African Development Bank.
Two women are also running: Marie Elise Gbedo, a lawyer who tried for the presidency in 2001, and Celestine Zanou, a former top aide to Kerekou.
The United Nations ranks Benin near the bottom of its quality of life Human Development Index - 161 out of 177 nations surveyed. Only 40 percent of Benin's adults are literate and only about half of school-aged children are enrolled in school. Per capita income is about $3 (about R18,60) a day.
About four million of Benin's nearly seven million people are registered to vote. Turnout is expected to be higher than in previous ballots, which were effectively two-way races between Kerekou and Soglo.
Kerekou took power in a this former French colony in a 1972 coup, leading a Marxist regime for nearly two decades.
After the end of the Cold War, Kerekou oversaw West Africa's first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in 1991, holding elections and losing to Soglo. Kerekou won the office back five years later, and emerged victorious again in the last presidential ballot in 2001, which the opposition charged was fraudulent.
The constitutions of other African nations - including Uganda and Gabon - have been changed to allow sitting heads of states to run for extra terms.
Uganda's Yoweri Museveni was declared victor in elections last month, while Gabon's Omar Bongo won another seven-year term in November. Bongo is Africa's longest-serving leader, a reign second in length worldwide only to Cuba's Fidel Castro.
Campaigning for Benin's poll wrapped up Friday at midnight. Candidates have promised to improve governance, reduce unemployment and step up cotton production.
The victor must win at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. If there is no clear victor, the runoff will take place 15 days after final results from the first round are announced. - Sapa-AP