Legislative elections in 2026: the CENA announces the main trends for this Saturday.

The Autonomous National Electoral Commission announces the proclamation of the major trends from the latest elections for this Saturday, January 17, 2026.

The major trends of the joint elections held on Sunday, January 11, 2026, are announced for this Saturday. According to sources close to CENA, only the trends concerning the legislative elections are expected for this Saturday.

The results related to municipal elections are still in their processing and consolidation phase and should not be made public today.

The double ballot held last Sunday, conducted across the entire national territory, took place in a particular context. It was the first general elections organized before a presidential election, in line with the new electoral calendar, and a real test for the reforms introduced by the revised Electoral Code.

From the opening of polling stations, several localities recorded significant delays, sometimes of several hours, linked to the delivery of electoral materials or to the late installation of staff. These malfunctions, noted notably in Cotonou, Porto-Novo, Abomey-Calavi, Banikoara, or Tchaourou, fed the first tensions between political parties and institutional actors.

Politically, five formations are mainly involved in the expected major trends. These are Union progressiste le Renouveau (UP-R) and Bloc républicain (BR), pillars of the presidential camp, engaged in coalition agreements, as well as Force cauris pour un Bénin émergent (FCBE) and Moele-Bénin. On the other side, the opposition party Les Démocrates (LD), which runs without a parliamentary alliance, plays a decisive role.

The key to reading the results rests on the electoral thresholds set by law. For parties engaged in a parliamentary coalition, eligibility to share seats depends on reaching at least 10% of the national vote. By contrast, for a party not a member of a coalition, such as Les Démocrates (LD), the requirement is stricter: 20% of valid votes cast in each electoral district where it hopes to obtain seats. A single district below this threshold is enough to exclude it from sharing.

It is in this constraining legal context that political headquarters multiply statements and counter-statements. Les Démocrates (LD) denounce grave irregularities, citing obstructions to the presence of their representatives in polling stations, refusals to hand over minutes, and manipulations during the tabulation. The party, however, says it has internal results allowing it to reach the 20% required in several constituencies.

On the side of the presidential camp, the climate is far from serene. The Bloc républicain openly accuses its partner, the UP-R, of attempts to substitute numbers from the results, signaling that the contest for seats is also being played out within the presidential camp.

On the ground, information missions and civil society observation platforms have, for their part, reported higher turnout in the legislative elections than in the municipal elections, confirming the national stakes of the parliamentary vote. They also noted occasional incidents, without, at this stage, calling into question the overall conduct of the vote.
While awaiting the official transmission of the results to the Constitutional Court, the only body empowered to proclaim the final results within a maximum of 72 hours after receipt, the CENA is gradually setting up to proclaim this Saturday evening the major trends of the legislative elections while awaiting the end of the tallying of the municipal and communal elections.