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Beninians voted for new lawmakers on Sunday, with heavy participation from women and younger candidates giving voters a sense of a fresh start at the polls, as well as the return of the opposition.
Sunday’s vote will be a key test of democracy in Benin, once seen as a model for West Africa, as the opposition seeks to gain ground in parliament after being effectively barred from running in 2019 elections.
Most of the leading opposition figures are in prison or in exile.
Seven political parties, including three that said they were from the opposition, were finally allowed to vote.
“Most of the candidates are under 30, the rest are under 40,” said Boconon Adihou Gerardo, an activist with the opposition People’s Liberation Movement (MPL).
“These are what we need… It’s time to inject new blood into Benin’s politics.”
In 2019, only two political parties supporting President Patrice Talon were able to participate in the legislative elections, angering some of the population.
The vote was marked by historic abstentions, deadly violence and a total internet shutdown, a rare event in Benin.
In 2021, the leader of the main opposition party also failed to participate in the presidential election.
– Democracy “held hostage” –
“Our democracy is held hostage by the minority, the minority crushes the majority,” Jacques Ayadji, chairman of the opposition Moele-Benin party, told AFP.
Ayaji said more than 80 percent of the party’s candidates in Sunday’s poll were under the age of 50, and one in two candidates was under the age of 40.
“Young people have to learn politics. We have to prepare the next generation.”
Elected in 2016, re-elected in 2021, the wealthy businessman Talon has launched all-out political and economic reforms with a view to putting his West African country on the path to development.
But critics say this modernization has also been accompanied by a marked decline in democracy.
Two of Talon’s main adversaries – Joël Aïvo and Reckya Madougou – remain behind bars after receiving severe sentences.
The Republican Bloc (BR), a pro-government party, claims to have listened to the “wish” of the populace for better representation.
“Young people from the agricultural or craft sectors make up 45 percent of our candidates,” said BR party representative Distel Amoussou.
He said his party “wants to empower women well beyond the 24 seats reserved for them”.
– Transparency –
The new electoral code requires that there be one woman elected per constituency, meaning at least 24 deputies out of 109 seats.
For Tahiratou Toko, a 33-year-old incumbent candidate in the north of the country, “it’s a big step forward”, explaining the “enthusiasm of female voters”.
“They are more concerned, especially because there are only young candidates,” which is “completely unprecedented.”
But do the many women and young people have a chance of being elected?
Lawyer Marlène Agbatan raised the issue and dismissed the optimism of party leaders.
“Most young people and women don’t have much established political parties. The major parties prefer to have them as backup or last-minute positions, making them just voter mobilizers,” she said.
“So I don’t see how young people can take over politics.”
Four years after a one-sided legislative election with an abstention rate of more than 70 percent, fears that the outcome of the vote has been secured have not dissipated.
Benin political scientist Expédit Ologou warned that if the incumbent party emerged as the big winner in the election, many would question the transparency of the election results.
Ballots will be counted for next week.
jmh-aml/pma/cw
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