1st LD: Benin's presidential run-off voting starts

Voting operations for Benin's second round of presidential election started Sunday at 7:00 a.m.local time in most of polling stations across the country.

At 6:30 a.m., voting devices were ready in most of polling stations in the economic capital Cotonou and the neighboring cities such as Godomey, Abomey Calavi and Akassato to allow smooth polling.

The runoff poll is contested between current Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou and businessman Patrice Talon, who respectively came first and second during the first round of the presidential elections on March 13.

In many stations, voters standing in long queues cheerfully fulfill their civic duties to elect the successor to the outgoing president Boni Yayi, whose term is to end on April 6.

"I am very happy to have cast my vote in favor of one of the two contestants in the runoff poll of the presidential election", Beninese voter Bernard Adjovi, at his 40s, told Xinhua.

The voting operations will close at 4:00 p.m. local time, and the early trends are expected within 48 hours, according to the National Autonomous Electoral Commission.

The process is conducted under the supervision of observers from regional bloc, The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), International Organization of Francophone (OIF), and Beninese civil society organizations.

About 4.7 million people are expected to cast their votes in 13,664 voting stations divided into 7,964 polling centers. Enditem