Presidential election 2026: Les Démocrates’ lawyers denounce a “programmed collusion” between CENA, the judiciary and the “rupture” authorities
In a statement made public on Sunday, October 19, 2025, the Collectif des avocats du parti Les Démocrates denounces a judicial decision it considers tainted by “programmed and synchronized connivance” between the Commission électorale nationale autonome (CENA), the judiciary and the authorities in power. The lawyers believe that the procedure concerning the nominative sponsorship form of MP Michel François Oloutoyé Sodjinou violates the laws of the Republic.
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The showdown between the party Les Démocrates and the CENA has taken an explosive judicial turn. In a statement dated October 19, 2025, the party’s Collectif des avocats denounces “a fraudulent collusion” between the Commission électorale nationale autonome, the judiciary and the ‘rupture’ authorities, following order n°254/AUD-PD/2025 issued on October 13, 2025 by the tribunal de première instance de première classe de Cotonou.
According to this order, the judge ordered Thomas Boni Yayi, in his capacity as president of the party Les Démocrates, to return to Michel François Oloutoyé Sodjinou the nominative sponsorship form that had been issued to him by the CENA. In the event of resistance, the text authorizes the CENA to invalidate the previous form and issue a new one.
A “fraudulent collusion” denounced
But for the party’s Collectif des avocats, the decision was implemented in blatant violation of the legal procedure. “The order provided an eight-day period for voluntary compliance, before any intervention by the CENA,” the statement emphasizes. However, according to the lawyers, the CENA intervened early on the morning of October 14, less than 24 hours after the judge’s decision, without waiting for the end of the period set by the code of civil procedure.
The Démocrates’ lawyers claim that the CENA and MP Sodjinou acted in concert, even going so far as to resort to “the same bailiff.” A situation they deem “curious and revealing of illegal coordination.” “The CENA behaved like the main beneficiary of the court decision, even though it was not a party to it,” they denounce.
For the Collectif, this haste demonstrates “a clear intent to harm the party Les Démocrates” and to “distort the democratic process” ahead of the 2026 presidential election. “This case is the concentrated expression, in a few hours, of a true denial of justice, heralding a serious political, social and security crisis”, the lawyers warn.