Preliminary election results indicate that the opposition in Benin Republic has rejoined the legislature after a four-year exile, taking 28 seats in a contest that was largely won by President Patrice Talon’s loyalists.
The West African nation of Benin, where Talon has championed growth, was put to the test in Sunday’s election, but detractors claim his policies have hurt the country’s once-vibrant multiparty democracy.
According to the CENA electoral authority, the Talon-allied Republican Bloc and Progressive Union for Renewal parties collectively won 81 seats, while the main opposition party Les Democrates received 28 seats, Aljazeera reports.
None of the four parties left in the race for the remaining 109 seats received enough votes to reach the required 10% vote share for parliamentary participation.
Election observers from the regional group Economic Community of West African States, report that the election was conducted peacefully and in accordance with the law, and that final results are anticipated on Friday.
Despite pundits’ predictions that it would be higher given the presence of more parties, the election commission revealed that only 38.66 percent of voters actually showed up to the polls.
An opposition-dominated parliament was created four years ago as a result of stricter election regulations that virtually prevented opposition parties from running in a legislative vote.
Since the cotton magnate was elected in 2016 and later re-elected in 2021, the majority of Talon’s significant rivals have likewise been imprisoned or driven into exile.
The 2019 election for legislators was marked by deadly riots in a stronghold of the opposition, a historically low turnout, and an internet blackout.
Seven parties, including three of the opposition’s allies, were permitted to participate on Sunday.
In anticipation of the 2026 presidential election, when candidates must have the support of MPs to be registered, opposition leaders had hoped that their parties would pick more seats.
This year also marks the end of the Constitutional Court’s term, and three years out from the presidential election. The court’s makeup is crucial because it reviews election-related rulings.
Three judges are selected by the president, from four judges nominated by lawmakers.
Les Democrates, a party affiliated with Talon’s predecessor and adversary Thomas Boni Yayi, likewise declared that it would work to get an amnesty law passed in parliament so that prisoners of war and refugees may return home.
Reckya Madougou received a 20-year prison term in December 2021 for “terrorism,” while Joel Aivo, another opposition leader and academic, received a 10-year sentence for alleged state authority conspiracy.
Both were put on trial by the CRIET, a special court that deals with “terrorism” and economic offences. Opponents say that since Talon’s government launched the court in 2016, it has been used to repress his rivals.
The legislative vote was held on Sunday as the Sahel region’s northern borders with Benin and other Gulf of Guinea coastal nations like Ghana, Togo, and Ivory Coast faced an increasing threat from Sahelian violence.
