Benin – 2026 municipal elections: the Démocrates’ candidacy declared inadmissible

According to the document signed by president Sacca Lafia, the lists of the Mouvement des Élites Engagées pour l’Émancipation du Bénin (Moele Bénin) and of the party Les Démocrates (LD) have been declared inadmissible.

The CENA notes that Moele Bénin, although present at the institution’s headquarters, was unable to finish organizing and checking its documents, leaving its file incomplete. As for the party Les Démocrates, it did submit some of the required documents, but of the 473 required documents, only 353 were provided, meaning 120 documents are missing.

These irregularities, the decision specifies, constitute legal grounds for inadmissibility.

By contrast, the files submitted by Union Progressiste le Renouveau (UP-R), Bloc Républicain (BR) and Forces Cauris pour un Bénin Émergent (FCBE) were judged complete and accepted for the next stage of conformity review.

The CENA’s decision marks a decisive step in the electoral process and clarifies the political landscape with less than two months to the vote.