2026 Presidential Election in Benin: The Democrats hail a “small advancement” but maintain their vigilance

For Basile Ahossi, deputy and vice-president of the party of former president Boni Yayi, this is a “small step forward”, but it doesn’t exclude the need to stay “vigilant”.

The official document, signed by the CENA rapporteur, sets the start of withdrawal of sponsorship forms for the April 2026 presidential election on September 2, 2025. This stage, initially postponed until the end of July, had aroused great concerns within the ranks of the main opposition party to the Patrice Talon regime.

“We started, at the party level Les Démocrates, to question the direction things were going, given that we are facing people who have over 1000 tricks up their sleeves”, declared Basile Ahossi on RFI microphone. He hopes that the procedure now underway will go “without stammering” to its end.

A public mistrust

Despite what is seen as a positive signal, Les Démocrates announce that they will not let up their surveillance. “We will remain very vigilant, we will keep our eyes wide open so that surprises do not come to disrupt our hopes further”, insisted the deputy, fearing that a “trap” or a “desire to exclude a camp” might be hidden behind this announcement.

Finally, Basile Ahossi calls for turning the page on past electoral tensions: “We would like to give them good faith hoping that President Talon, when leaving, will make people forget about the psychodrama of 2019 and will allow the political class to regain the conviviality that has always characterized elections in our country.”