Political repression escalates ahead of Benin’s 2026 election
Although months away, the political climate leading up to elections is already being shaped by repression and restrictions.
Romuald Wadagni, Benin's Minister of Economy and Finance, has been selected as the successor for the ruling party. Photo: flickr
The people of Benin will head to the polls to elect their next president on April 12, 2026. Yet even months ahead of the contest, the situation in the country has already been marked by rising political repression, deepening economic inequality, and declining public trust in democratic processes, Nidol Salami of the Communist Party of Benin (PCB) told Peoples Dispatch.
Public distrust grows
Salami describes the political atmosphere as very tense, noting that only the ruling party’s selected successor Romuald Wadagni has been publicly declared so far. He says that Wadagni, the finance minister serving since President Patrice Talon came to power in 2016, is an obedient enforcer of policies that harm the masses. In its newspaper La Flamme, the PCB condemned Wadagni’s candidacy, stating:
“Everyone knows that Romuald Wadagni was Patrice Talon’s lackey… zealously implemented… opacity in financial management to aid and conceal the plundering of the country by the ruling elite.”
Salami also adds that after successive elections over the past 30 years, and especially those held under the current regime, the population has lost confidence in elections as a means of salvation. The Beninese people no longer believe in the ballot box, despite the negotiations between the government and its allies in the opposition, as they believe all are instruments of French imperialism.
Added to all this is hunger, uncontrolled evictions, job insecurity, the destruction of low-income earners’ livelihoods, unfair taxes, and police repression. Salami explained that many in the country have raised the need for a national dialogue to reevaluate the country’s future and how to transform the country for the well being of all, without repression and closure of space, yet the government and its cronies prefer to push ahead regardless.
Eroding political freedoms and suppressed opposition
Salami says that since the current government took office, it has implemented legal restrictions in an effort to systematically dismantle the freedoms of press, union, and association. Trade unionists and opposition activists face frequent arrests, even those in union offices. Public gatherings are forbidden, and groups like the Patriotic Youth Council have seen their members routinely detained.
These issues are echoed in documented events as on May 1, 2025, police dispersed a peaceful May Day workers’ march by the CSTB, storming their offices, arresting leaders, and dispersing activists. CSTB’s leadership, including Secretary General Kassa Mampo were detained and later released the same evening; the PCB expressed strong solidarity in La Flamme.
Read more: Trade unions in Benin condemn police crackdown on labor movement
The opposition party Les Démocrates has similarly reported widespread repression; meetings banned, rallies blocked, and even indoor trainings forcefully broken up, especially as campaign season nears.
PCB members targeted
For Salami, the PCB is waging the fiercest opposition to Talon’s regime. Its members face regular arrests across trade unions and women’s groups. Compounding the repression, Salami notes, the PCB has been deprived of its formal legal status since 2017.
Although their registration is reportedly in order, the state has repeatedly withheld their official certificate, effectively barring them from elections. Similar patterns of candidate selection and manipulation were also observed in the 2023 legislative elections, Salami claims.
Economic policies hurt workers and farmers
The communist activist also mentions that the government is catering exclusively to the elite. Labor laws, he says, favor rolling fixed-term contracts, undermine the right to strike, and make employment more precarious. Talon is proud of having “deregulated the labor market,” Salami says.
He also points out that farmers are made to sell produce cheaply to private companies, which then export it at exorbitant prices, which is undermining rural livelihoods.
Anti-imperialist movements gain ground
Salami links the current situation to over 60 years of neocolonial influence, suggesting French imperialism continues to rule through proxies. He welcomes growing support for Sahel-based anti-imperialist and pro-sovereignty movements, such as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) as a trajectory of hope that “change is still possible”.
In January 2025, activists were arrested for protesting the presence of French troops accused of being “proxies for the French military”. It was among the first of the many demonstrations against French military presence in Benin, provoked by the terror attack on January 8 on one of the strongest of its army’s installations by an Al-Qaeda affiliate, killing over 30 soldiers.
