Benin: here are the five actions through which the Senate will make its decisions.

The Beninese Senate is progressively detailing its functioning. After its installation, the new chamber of Parliament now has an internal regulation that governs its organization, procedures, and the nature of its interventions. Adopted on July 30 in Porto-Novo, this text notably dedicates a chapter to the different acts that the Senate may take.

According to Articles 34 to 40 of the internal regulation, five categories are retained: opinion, resolution, ordinance, decision, and decree. This distinction allows for determining, based on the nature of the issue examined, the legal instrument through which the Senate will express its stance.

The resolution, primary instrument of deliberation

The resolution appears as one of the central acts of the Senate. It allows the chamber to express its opinion on laws sent by the National Assembly. The Senate can thus adopt a resolution to issue a non-objection opinion on a law, request a second deliberation of a text voted by the National Assembly, or oppose a constitutional, electoral law, or law regarding the organization of political party life.

The internal regulation also provides that the resolution may serve to determine the final text of a law voted in second deliberation by the National Assembly. The Senate may also use it to approve a “pact of republican responsibility” concluded between the government and one or more opposition political parties.

Another prerogative: the chamber may adopt resolutions containing recommendations regarding “political morals” and the respect for political truce. The Senate’s own budget is also adopted in this form.

These provisions fall within the framework of the new prerogatives assigned to the Senate by the Constitution revised in November 2025. The National Assembly remains the chamber responsible for voting on laws, but the Senate now has a specific role in examining certain texts and regulating political life.

An “ordinance” to sanction a political actor

One of the most sensitive provisions of the internal regulation concerns the ordinance. Article 37 states that the “Ordinance” is the deliberation by which the Senate sanctions a political actor, in accordance with Article 113-1 of the Constitution.

The sanctions considered may go up to the suspension or withdrawal of political or civic rights. Thus, the Senate is recognized, under the conditions set by the Constitution, a power that may have direct consequences on the rights of a political actor.

The regulation also provides a minimum of procedural safeguards. For sanction decisions, the acts of the Senate must notably include the “observations received,” in addition to the constitutional and legal grounds, established facts, and reasons for the decision.

This requirement is important because the text does not merely define the sanction but also imposes that the elements leading to the decision be formalized.

The opinion for parliamentary activities

The “Opinion” constitutes another category of act, but with a different scope. According to Article 35, it is the deliberation by which the Senate expresses an opinion or recommendations on a report transmitted to it concerning the work of a parliamentary or interparliamentary institution in which the Beninese Parliament is represented. Thus, it is more of an instrument of expression and recommendation than a sanction or political decision act.

Decisions of the Office, presidential decrees

The internal regulation also distinguishes between acts taken by the Senate Office and those taken directly by its president. When the Office decides on a matter within its purview, its deliberation takes the form of a “Decision.” This is signed by the president of the Senate on behalf of the Office, in accordance with the minutes.

Conversely, when acting within his own powers, the president of the Senate issues a “Decree.” This distinction thus allows for differentiating the collective decisions of the Office from acts directly falling under the competencies of the president of the chamber.

Acts that must be justified

Beyond their nomenclature, the internal regulation also imposes certain formalities. Every opinion, resolution, or decision must contain the constitutional and legal grounds, established facts, and reasons for the decision. For sanction decisions, the observations received must also be mentioned.

This framework thus provides a precise structure to the acts of the Senate, requiring that the decisions made be tied to a legal basis and established facts.

This clarification comes at a time when Benin is experimenting, since the constitutional revision of 2025, with a bicameral Parliament. The National Assembly and the Senate must now articulate their interventions within the framework set by the Constitution and their internal regulations.

With this new regulation, the Senate thus now has a clear nomenclature for its interventions: opinion for formulating recommendations, resolution for its major institutional and legislative deliberations, ordinance for political sanctions provided by the Constitution, decision for acts of the Office, and decree for those of the president. The real scope of these new powers will now be measured by how the first term of the Senate uses them.