While Talon is following the constitutional two-term limit by not seeking reelection, his handpicked successor, Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, faces no serious challengers. Benin’s Constitutional Court, which is subservient to Talon’s regime, barred the leader of the country’s largest opposition party, Renaud Agbodjo, from the ballot on a technicality. The court allowed only one opponent in the contest: Paul Hounkpè, a polarizing opposition figure believed by some to be aligned with Talon.

Other prominent political opponents such as Reckya Madougou and Joël Aïvo remain behind bars serving long prison sentences on politically motivated charges. They were prosecuted by the Court for the Suppression of Economic Crimes and Terrorism (CRIET), a special court established by Talon in 2018 that the regime has used to disproportionately jail political opponents.

Since his election in 2016, Talon — who survived an attempted coup in December 2025 — has carried out a multi-pronged effort to consolidate authoritarian power by accumulating executive authority, capturing the judiciary and the legislature, rewriting electoral rules to exclude opposition parties from the ballot, and cracking down on independent media and civil society. This power grab was cemented in January 2026, when the regime and allied parties seized every single one of the country’s 109 parliamentary seats.