Overview
- Voters cast ballots Sunday in a two-candidate race that favors finance minister Romuald Wadagni. Provisional results are expected Tuesday.
- The Democrats, the main opposition party, was excluded after failing to secure required endorsements from lawmakers, leaving only Wadagni and Paul Hounkpe on the ballot.
- Ruling parties hold all 109 seats in the National Assembly after January’s vote, a dominance critics say made endorsements a hurdle the opposition could not clear.
- A constitutional overhaul last year extended the presidential term to seven years and set the next nationwide elections for 2033. The revised rules also raised barriers for candidates to qualify.
- The election follows rising jihadist violence in northern Benin, including 54 soldiers killed last year and 15 last month, and a failed coup in December that led to about 100 arrests, even as Wadagni runs on continuity after years of fast growth.