Romuald Wadagni is set to take the reins in Benin after a landslide showing at the polls, cementing what many had long anticipated as a smooth handover from President Patrice Talon.

Election authorities say the finance minister secured more than 94 percent of the vote in Sunday’s presidential race, with results drawn from over 90 percent of ballots counted. Turnout stood at 58.75 percent, according to Sacca Lafia, who leads the country’s independent electoral commission and delivered the update on national television late Monday.

The figures still await validation by Benin’s constitutional court, with a final declaration expected in the coming weeks.

READ ALSO: Benin votes for new leader as finance minister emerges front-runner to replace Talon

Even before the official confirmation, Paul Hounkpè, Wadagni’s only challenger, acknowledged defeat after polling 5.95 percent, the AP reported.

At 49, Wadagni had widely been viewed as Talon’s preferred successor. The outgoing president, who has held power since 2016, is due to leave office at the end of May following a decade in charge. Political observers had pointed to a weakened opposition as a key factor likely to shape the outcome.

Talon’s time in office has drawn mixed reactions. His administration is credited with steering economic expansion, but it has also faced growing security concerns in the country’s northern regions, where jihadist activity has intensified. Critics further accuse his government of tightening its grip on dissent.

Despite Benin’s reputation as one of Africa’s more stable democracies, opposition figures and rights groups argue that the judicial system has been used to edge out political rivals.

Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have spoken out against what they describe as a sustained clampdown on dissent, pointing to arbitrary arrests, stricter limits on public protests and increased pressure on independent media.

The political imbalance was evident in January’s parliamentary elections, where opposition parties failed to meet the requirement of securing at least 20 percent support from registered voters in each district before qualifying to contest. That outcome left Talon-aligned parties in full control of all 109 seats in the National Assembly.

READ ALSO: Benin election opens new political chapter as Talon departs power

Renaud Agbodjo, who heads The Democrats and is regarded as the leading opposition figure, was unable to contest Sunday’s presidential vote after falling short of the parliamentary endorsement threshold, a rule critics say has been structured to shut out viable competition.