Sodjinou’s sponsorship: Gilles Badet’s technical take on the TPI of Cotonou’s decision
Order No. 254/AUD-PD/2025 issued on October 13, 2025 by the President of the Court of First Instance of Cotonou has already attracted a lot of attention. Gilles Badet, former Secretary-General of the Constitutional Court, has given his technical opinion on the matter.
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In his analysis, he believes that by stating that “sponsorship belongs to the elected official and not to his political party,” the judge has just settled a major debate in the Beninese political landscape, at a time when deputy Michel Sodjinou’s refusal to sponsor is provoking strong reactions.
For jurist and academic Gilles Badet, this judicial decision constitutes an essential clarification. In his analysis, he believes that “the judge clearly recalled that the sponsorship form is personal and that it cannot be withheld or confiscated by a political party against the will of its holder.”
In other words, each deputy or mayor retains full control over their act of sponsorship: they can freely choose to give it, to refuse it or even to withdraw it as long as the official list of presidential candidacies has not been published by the CENA.
This position of the judge, supported by Gilles Badet, is based on Article 44 of the Constitution and Article 132 of the Electoral Code. These provisions make sponsorship an essential condition for the admissibility of candidacies, without limiting the freedom of conscience of elected officials.
The Constitutional Court had already, in decisions issued in February 2021, recognized the sponsor’s freedom and the possibility for them to retract before the close of candidacies.
The order of October 13, 2025 therefore fits within this logic, while reaffirming the role of the ordinary judge in protecting this individual political freedom. It also provides a clear response to partisan abuses observed since the March 2024 reform of the Electoral Code, which requires that an elected official may only sponsor the candidate of their party or of an allied formation.