Close call in Benin election

Provisional results from the Presidential election in Benin show President Mathieu Kerekou, and his prededessor, Nicephore Soglo, are well ahead of the other fifteen candidates.

Electoral officials say early trends show President Kerekou is in the lead. He did particularly well in his traditional stronghold in the north.

If no candidate gets more than fifty percent of the vote, a second vote will be held on the eighteenth of March.

In the 1991 and 1996 presidential elections in Benin, President Kerekou and Nicephore Soglo faced each other, winning one each.

There was a high voter turnout despite the fact that many polling stations opened late.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service