COTONOU – Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni appears headed for victory in Benin’s presidential election scheduled for Sunday, supported by the nation’s economic performance and lacking significant opposition despite mounting concerns about militant threats in northern territories.
Current President Patrice Talon, who has led the West African country since 2016 but cannot run again due to constitutional term limits, chose Wadagni as his successor. This endorsement provides him with support from the controlling political alliance in the contest, occurring four months following a failed coup attempt against Talon’s administration.
The 49-year-old candidate, previously employed by Deloitte, has pledged to tackle fundamental concerns including expanding clean water access and ensuring emergency medical care without regard to patients’ financial capacity.
Security challenges will demand his attention, as Benin has suffered the most severe impact among West Africa’s coastal nations from extremist organizations that have expanded their influence across the central Sahel region.
Voting begins at 7 a.m. local time and concludes at 4 p.m., with over 7.9 million registered voters, including 62,000 living abroad. Initial results are anticipated Tuesday.
The primary opposition group, The Democrats, could not secure sufficient legislative support for their own nominee and declined to endorse the sole alternative candidate: Paul Hounkpe from the Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin, a former governing party now with reduced influence.
Hounkpe contends that economic expansion under Talon and Wadagni has failed to benefit most of Benin’s approximately 15 million citizens.
“If we make progress but none of us can afford three meals a day, we haven’t made any progress. Yes or no?” he stated during a recent campaign event.
He has also criticized what he calls an atmosphere of intimidation as opposition political opportunities diminish, with the ruling alliance controlling all National Assembly positions.
During campaign activities, numerous potential voters have characterized the presidential race as predetermined and encouraged Wadagni to fulfill his commitments.
“Once President Romuald Wadagni is at the head of this country, I would like him to promote and help young people to find work because we have many young graduates on the streets driving ‘zem’,” said Marcel Sovi, a 34-year-old educator, referring to motorcycle taxi drivers.
Christelle Tessi, a 40-year-old merchant, emphasized that Wadagni should prioritize northern security improvements, where al Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin killed 54 Benin military personnel in a single assault one year ago and another 15 soldiers in last month’s attack.
“What is happening in northern Benin is that our brothers are being killed, and if a soldier goes there on a mission, it is his body that comes back,” she explained.
“We beg him to fight against these bandits so that peace may reign in our country.”
