APA – Cotonou (Benin) President Patrice Talon says he will not be seeking a third term in 2026.
On Monday, December 22, 2024, the President of Benin received the parliamentary groups represented in the National Assembly to discuss the debates on the revision of the Constitution and the amendment of the Electoral Code.
One after the other, Mr. Talon met the two parliamentary groups of the ruling majority and the opposition party Les Démocrates.
On Monday evening, the president of the opposition parliamentary group, Nourénou Atchadé, held a press conference to report on his discussions with President Talon.
According to the deputy, during the meeting, Patrice Talon clearly reaffirmed his commitment not to change the fundamental law in order to run for a third term. Mr. Atchadé recounts that the President declared “that he has never asked and will never ask for a revision of the Constitution in order to remain in power forever, because it was he himself who had it written into the text that no one in his lifetime will be president for more than two terms.
The leader of the Les Democrates parliamentary group adds that Mr. Talon has indicated that he intends to leave power in 2026, leaving the country in the peace he found when he came to power in 2016. According to the opponent, who still reports the president’s words, Patrice Talon now says that he is committed to work for inclusive elections in 2026, in consultation with the entire political class.
After reassuring his hosts about the debate on the revision of the Constitution, President Talon discussed with them the revision of the Electoral Code.
In their replies to the Head of State, the representatives of Les Démocrates recalled that they had always worked for the consultations that the President was calling for today. “When the President of the Republic gave us the floor, we agreed with him on the national consensus. We reminded him that at the level of the Democratic Party, we have long sung the praises of the need for national consensus in everything. Maybe we didn’t understand each other because we always talked about dialogue. We told him that it’s this aspect of what we’ve always called the national dialogue, and that if he wants, we can call it national concertations in the near future,” Nourénou Atchadé said. He added that the opposition had explained to the president that the revision of the electoral code should not be a debate between the parties represented in parliament alone. For Atchadé, the issue is a matter of concern for all political formations.
In a January 4 ruling, the Constitutional Court ordered parliament to review certain provisions of the electoral code.
Debate on irregularities in the electoral code
Benin’s electoral code was adopted in November 2019 and amended in June 2020 by the eighth legislature, composed exclusively of deputies from the two main political parties of the ruling coalition, the Progressive Union and Le Republican Block. The text contains inconsistencies that the Constitutional Court has asked to be corrected. These inconsistencies concern the sponsorship of candidates for the 2026 presidential election. According to the code, all candidates must be sponsored by at least l0% of all deputies and mayors, i.e. 19 elected representatives, since Benin has 109 deputies and 77 mayors.
At present, however, no one knows whether these sponsorships should be sought from elected representatives of outgoing mandates or from new mayors and deputies.
In fact, according to the timetable for the 2026 parliamentary elections, the local and legislative elections will be held before the presidential elections, and by the time the candidacy files are submitted, the brand-new mayors will not have taken office and the new parliament will not have been installed.
In its ruling, the Constitutional Court orders the National Assembly to correct this irregularity, but the parliamentary opposition does not agree with this order. Les Démocrates called for a national dialogue to address all the anomalies plaguing Benin’s political system. It points out that it was not involved in the reforms carried out by President Talon and his coalition.
At Monday’s meeting, Patrice Talon wanted to know if his guests from Les Démocrates had chosen to sponsor former or new mayors and deputies. They replied that they had not yet made up their minds. The opponents promised to discuss the matter in their party’s organs under the leadership of their leader, former president Boni Yayi.
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