Benin postpones presidential election to March 6

The first round of Benin’s presidential election that had been scheduled for February 28 has been postponed to March 6, following delays in distribution of voters cards.

“The court has authorized the postponement of the date of the 2016 presidential election from Sunday, February 28, 2016 to Sunday, March 6, 2016,” said the Constitutional Court in a statement Thursday night.

Opposition candidates have been calling for a postponement because of delays in the production and distribution of the cards to the 4.6 million voters.

The election in the west African nation is considered open with several candidates jostling to succeed Benin’s president Boni Yayi who is barred under the country’s constitution from standing for a third term.

Yayi has been president since 2006, when he took over in a peaceful transition of power after 28 years under Marxist coup leader Mathieu Kerekou, who gradually came to embrace multiparty democracy.