HRF is concerned by Benin’s dissolution of its national electoral commission through a vote by a legislature where the ruling coalition holds all seats following recent sham elections. With neither debate nor public consultation around the dissolution, and uncertainty around a new election oversight mechanism, Romuald Wadagni’s regime is using institutional force to impose a measure that further guts Benin’s once-democratic institutions.
On July 10, Benin’s National Assembly — where the ruling coalition of the Progressive Union Renewal and Republican Bloc parties control all 109 seats — voted unanimously to dissolve the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA) pending reforms ahead of the next elections in seven years. The law calls for the executive branch to absorb the assets of the CENA and its staff into the public administration during an undetermined transitional period.
Ruling coalition MP Augustin Ahouanvoebla introduced the legislation in the National Assembly as a cost-saving measure, arguing that funding for the Commission could be spent elsewhere since elections are not happening for another seven years. However, Ahouanvoebla has a long track record as one of the architects and defenders of a battery of restrictive electoral reforms that have effectively nullified the ability of Benin’s opposition to compete and win national elections.
Established in 2001, CENA oversaw free and competitive elections in Benin until the 2016 democratic election of Patrice Talon. Following his election, however, Talon orchestrated a systematic dismantling of Benin’s democracy by capturing electoral, legislative, and judicial institutions, rewriting electoral rules to exclude opposition parties from the ballot, and repressing dissent. As a result, the Talon-controlled CENA oversaw a deeply flawed and unfair electoral process that secured both his re-election in 2021 with 86% of the vote and the election of his hand-picked successor Wadagni with 94% of the vote.
