Forgery of proxy votes by the LD party: the contents of the CRIET prosecutor’s press release
The Special Prosecutor at the Court for the Repression of Economic Offences and Terrorism (CRIET), Élonm Mario Mètonou, issued a press release that casts a worrying light on a case of forged proxies linked to the preparation of candidate lists for the communal and legislative elections of January 2026.
CRIET
According to initial information, officials from the opposition party Les Démocrates allegedly used forged proxies to obtain duplicates of tax clearance certificates and criminal record certificates in the names of people who, in some cases, had no connection with their political organization or who had already obtained their documents.
The case comes as political parties are striving to compile their complete lists in all electoral districts, a requirement imposed by the Electoral Code.
The General Directorate of Taxes filed a complaint on 6 November 2025 after detecting anomalies in several files. Checks carried out by the Judicial Police Directorate revealed signatures that did not match between the proxies and the Personal Identification Certificates of the applicants. Several people concerned stated that they had never issued a proxy. Two individuals have already been detained at the General Directorate of Taxes in possession of clearly forged proxies.
The acts may constitute offences of forgery and use of forged documents, as well as electoral fraud, punishable by one to five years’ imprisonment under the Penal Code. The special prosecutor’s office announced that investigations will continue to identify all persons involved and to determine responsibility.
Special Prosecutor Mario Mètonou said the public will be informed of the progress of the investigations and any judicial developments.
The press release from Prosecutor Mario Metonou
REPUBLIC OF BENIN