Benin's finance minister wins presidential election with 94%

Benin's Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni has won Sunday's presidential election in a landslide victory with 94% of the vote.

That's according to preliminary results based on more than 90% of counted votes, the electoral commission, CENA, said on Monday.

Wadagni, 49, is the candidate of the alliance between the Progressive Union Renewal (UPR) and the Republican Bloc (BR).

He had been widely tipped to win after being endorsed by outgoing President Patrice Talon.

Benin's most wealthy man, Talon was barred from running again after serving two five-year terms.

Opponent concedes defeat

As finance minister, Wadagni oversaw a decade of consistent growth above 6% each year. He campaigned on continuing this growth in what is considered one of West Africa's most stable democracies — despite a failed coup attempt in December 2025.

Wadagni's only other opponent was Paul Hounkpe, the leader of relatively small opposition party FCBE.

He had earlier conceded defeat even as votes were still being counted.

"To ... Romuald Wadagni, I offer my republican congratulations. Democracy requires mutual respect and the ability to rise above partisan divides," Hounkpe said in his concession statement.

Benin sees 'peaceful' presidential election

The head of CENA, Sacca Lafia, said the election had taken place peacefully.

An electoral monitoring platform set up by civil society groups reported around one hundred incident "alerts," according to the AFP news agency.

The cases involved voting stations that had opened early or where voting boxes appeared full before the start of voting.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) election observation mission praised "a peaceful atmosphere" and "the smooth running of the election."

Some 7.9 million people were eligible to vote in the election, with a voter turnout across country of 58.75%, according to the electoral commission.

The turnout was much lower in the capital Porto-Novo, where it ranged from 20% to 40% at some polling stations.

Barriers for opposition

However, analysts noted before the election that Talon had systematically restricted political participation during his presidency with a variety of measures.

The largest opposition party, Les Democrats, wasn't on the ballot, for example.

Constitutional changes enacted last last year meant the party failed to win any seats in January's legislative election.

As part of these changes, presidential candidates also have to be endorsed by National Assembly members. But without any members in the assembly, the Democrats leader, Renaud Agbodjo, was unable to obtain a sufficient number of endorsements.

"Given the barriers to opposition party participation, the 2026 contest begins with a tilted playing field," an analysis by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a part of the US Department of Defense, found before the election.

Benin faces challenges of poverty, insecurity

Thanks to its miles of beaches and numerous completed infrastructure projects, Benin has enjoyed rapid economic growth and an increase in tourism.

However, the country of 14.5 million still faces major challenges, including a significant wealth gap.

The poverty rate (percentage of people living on $3 (€2.60) a day) is estimated at just under 30%, and many people feel they haven't felt the benefits of economic growth.

Another threat to the country's stability is the spillover of deadly jihadist violence from the Sahel region into Benin's north.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko