A1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? | 1.001 4.004 |
The president is elected by popular vote for up to two five-year terms and serves as both the chief of state and head of government. In 2021, Patrice Talon won reelection as president with 86 percent of the vote. The authorities had disqualified, arrested, or forced into exile the major opposition candidates, leaving only two opponents who posed no significant competition. Elected members of progovernment parties had veto power over which candidates qualified for the ballot, and some opposition parties boycotted the election. Peaceful protesters against the unfair and noncompetitive contest were injured, and at least five people were killed after security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition into the air. Official voter turnout was 50 percent, a historic low for the country’s multiparty presidential contests; civil society groups estimate turnout at 26 percent. Observers described election day as “calm” and “orderly.”
Constitutional amendments created the largely ceremonial position of vice president in 2019. Mariam Chabi Talata, Talon’s running mate in 2021, became the first to hold the office.
A2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? | 1.001 4.004 |
Delegates to the 83-member, unicameral National Assembly serve four-year terms and are elected by proportional representation. The 2019 legislative elections were neither free nor fair, as new electoral rules effectively prevented all opposition parties from participating. Observers canceled poll-monitoring plans for fear of violence, turnout fell to about a quarter of eligible voters amid an opposition boycott, there was an internet shutdown on election day, and security forces violently suppressed protests before and after balloting, resulting in several deaths.
Only the two progovernment parties on the ballot won seats. In November 2021, the new National Assembly adopted constitutional amendments, including provisions imposing three-term limits on legislators, expanding the body to 109 seats, and extending terms to five years beginning in 2026 to align them with those of the president. The government ignored a call by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) for these amendments’ repeal before the presidential election.
Municipal elections were held in 2020, ignoring an AfCHPR order to suspend them and ensure opposition participation. Sébastien Ajavon, a businessman living in exile after receiving a drug trafficking conviction in 2018, had sued after opposition parties were barred from participating. The Progressive Union and the Republican Bloc won most local council seats, while the Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin (FCBE), the only opposition group to field candidates, won 14 percent of them. In 2021, the AfCHPR ruled in Ajavon’s case that Benin had violated its human rights obligations.
A3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? | 1.001 4.004 |
Elections are conducted by the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA). Following the passage of a restrictive electoral law in 2018, the Constitutional Court ruled that parties must obtain a “certificate of conformity” from the Interior Ministry. In 2019, CENA approved only two progovernment parties for the legislative election. CENA also barred most opposition groups from the 2020 local elections.
Legislative elections scheduled for 2023 will be run by a restructured CENA largely appointed by Talon and his allies. As of the end of 2022, seven parties—four progovernment, three opposition—were registered to contest the 2023 elections. CENA initially disqualified the main opposition party, the Democrats, in November 2022 for failing to provide required tax information. The party was ultimately allowed to register after appealing the decision to the Constitutional Court, which found in the party’s favor later that month.
Due to a 2019 amendment requiring presidential candidates to be endorsed by 10 percent of mayors and members of the National Assembly, the disqualifications of opposition parties in the 2019 and 2020 elections empowered members of Talon’s party to disqualify all but two candidates for the 2021 presidential election.
B1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? | 2.002 4.004 |
After multiparty elections were restored in 1991, Benin generally had a large number of active political parties. However, the 2018 electoral code established restrictive rules including an unusually high 10 percent national threshold and an onerous increase in obligatory financial deposits. Costs for presidential candidates were reduced in 2019, but other requirements were introduced, including the need for endorsem*nts and a vice presidential candidate.
All opposition parties were excluded from the 2019 parliamentary contest. As of December 2022, three opposition parties had been permitted to register for the 2023 legislative elections.
The FCBE was able to put forward a candidate for the 2021 presidential election. Though the Democrats won recognition in December 2020, the party’s presidential candidate, Reckya Madougou, was arrested before the election. The leader of a disqualified front of opposition parties, Joël Aïvo, was arrested shortly after the polls.
B2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? | 1.001 4.004 |
Talon’s defeat of Lionel Zinsou, former president Thomas Boni Yayi’s chosen successor in the 2016 election, marked Benin’s fourth presidential transfer of power between rival groups since 1991.
However, Talon’s government has since introduced significant obstacles to opposition parties and presidential candidates, and leading opposition figures have faced harassment and prosecution. Zinsou, Ajavon, and others have been sentenced in absentia to extensive sentences and remain in exile. Madougou and Aïvo were disqualified from the 2021 presidential ballot, arrested, and, in December of that year, sentenced to 20 and 10 years in prison, respectively. Approximately fifty members of the opposition imprisoned during 2021 were released in June and July 2022.
Under the 2019 constitutional amendments, no president can serve more than two terms in their life, even if they are nonconsecutive; some alleged this provision was aimed at Boni Yayi.
B3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Are the people’s political choices free from domination by forces that are external to the political sphere, or by political forces that employ extrapolitical means? | 3.003 4.004 |
Politics have generally been free from military interference. The role of personal wealth in politics has increased in recent years, with higher campaign costs and clientelist structures boosting the careers of wealthier politicians. Talon developed his private businesses in part by financing the campaigns of Boni Yayi and other elites and then securing lucrative contracts. After becoming president, Talon allegedly attempted to bribe lawmakers while working to secure passage of constitutional amendments.
B4 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, racial, religious, gender, LGBT+, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? | 3.003 4.004 |
Women and minority groups are not legally excluded from political participation, but cultural factors limit women’s engagement. Women won just 7 percent of the seats in the 2019 parliamentary elections. Recent constitutional amendments reserve 24 seats for women in the next legislative term. Benin’s first vice president, Mariam Chabi Talata, is a woman.
Benin has historically been divided between northern and southern ethnic groups, and political parties often rely on ethnic bases of support. Southern-born Talon selected most of his political appointees from the southern Gbe-speaking region. The 2019 election of a southerner as National Assembly president broke with a tradition where legislative leaders and chief executives come from different regions. Vice President Talata is from the north.
C1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? | 1.001 4.004 |
The president and the legislature generally determine government policy. However, the president and legislative representatives were not elected freely or fairly, and the lack of opposition members seriously undermines the legislature’s role as an independent branch of government.
The government does not consistently implement policy throughout Benin. In many rural areas, the state struggles to deliver basic services, and citizens instead rely on local customary and religious leaders.
C2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? | 2.002 4.004 |
Corruption remains widespread. Corrupt officials rarely face prosecution, contributing to a culture of impunity. In 2020, the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANLC) was dissolved to be succeeded by the High Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (HCPC), which has the authority to refer corruption cases to court. The law establishing this office also removed aspects of public officials’ asset declaration requirements.
The Court of Punishment of Economic Crimes and Terrorism (CRIET) was established in 2018 to prosecute corruption, drug trafficking, and terrorism cases, but critics claim it targets political opponents and journalists.
C3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Does the government operate with openness and transparency? | 2.002 4.004 |
The 2015 Information and Communication Code provides for public access to government records. However, information deemed sensitive, including national security, trade, and judicial documents, remains restricted.
A law passed in 2020 repealed asset declaration provisions for presidential candidates and government officials, and a 2021 joint report by the Clingendael Institute and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) indicates that the government is deliberately concealing increasingly violent communal conflicts in the north from the public.
