2026 presidential endorsements: “Les Démocrates” denounce a “maneuver” surrounding MP Michel Sodjinou
During a lively press conference in Cotonou on Thursday, October 16, 2025, the party Les Démocrates accused MP Michel Sodjinou of initiating legal proceedings aimed, according to him, at calling into question the distribution of its endorsements ahead of the April 2026 presidential election. In the statement read, the opposition party rejects the jurisdiction of the court of first instance seized and says it will maintain all of its 28 endorsements.
Les Démocrates et la crise interne de parainnage
« La YAYImania cannot be dissolved by maneuvers, » Les Démocrates’ leaders insisted Thursday during a press conference. In front of the press, they described a « modus operandi »: a service of process by a court clerk at the home of former president Thomas Boni Yayi, followed the same day by a hearing at the Cotonou Court of First Instance — a speed the party called « unusual ». At the root of the tension: the status of MP Michel Sodjinou’s endorsement and its implications for the party’s ability to finalize its paperwork for 2026.
According to Les Démocrates, on October 13, 2025, a court clerk first showed up around 2 p.m. with a document dated « November 13, 2025 » before returning around 4:10 p.m. with a corrected version, indicating that a hearing was opening « at 4 p.m. ». The party says it requested that all documents be filed at its headquarters, and not at the home of its honorary president, Boni Yayi, as « is customary ». It denounces a last‑minute « irruption » on the eve of the close of candidacies, intended to « seize » a key endorsement.
The party Les Démocrates recalls that in March 2024 the revision of the Electoral Code raised the sponsorship threshold to 15% of elected officials (deputies and/or mayors), with a geographic anchoring requirement: sponsors must come from at least 3/5 of the 24 legislative constituencies. In total, this amounts to 28 sponsors, a figure the party says it has held since early September after a group withdrawal of the forms at the Céna.
“A jurisdictional conflict”, according to the opposition
Les Démocrates argue that electoral disputes fall under the Constitutional Court and not an ordinary judge. In their statement, they see in MP Sodjinou’s move a « Trojan horse » of the authorities aiming to « call into question » Thomas Boni Yayi’s leadership and to « weaken » the party as the 2026 deadlines approach. They say they will maintain « all of [their] 28 endorsements » and promise that their duo of candidates will « indeed » be in the running in April 2026.
Since September 2, the Céna has made nominative sponsorship forms available to elected officials. Any withdrawal, retraction or individual challenge carries weight, and the threshold of 28 sponsors is a make‑or‑break threshold for any party.