Benin’s Finance Minister Romuald Vadagni has won a landslide victory in Sunday’s presidential election with 94% of the vote.
This is according to preliminary results based on more than 90% of votes counted, the electoral commission, CENA, said on Monday.
Vadagni, 49, is the candidate of the coalition between the Progressive Union Renewal (UPR) and the Republican Bloc (BR).
He was widely expected to win after being endorsed by outgoing President Patrice Talon.
Talon, Benin’s richest man, was barred from running for re-election after serving two five-year terms.
opponent conceded defeat
As Finance Minister, Vadagni oversaw consistent growth of over 6% every year for a decade. He campaigned to continue this rise in the country, considered one of West Africa’s most stable democracies despite a failed coup attempt in December 2025.
Vadagni’s only other rival was Paul Hounkpe, leader of the relatively small opposition party FCBE.
He had already accepted defeat while the counting of votes was still going on.
“To Romuald Vadagni, I extend my Republican congratulations. Democracy requires mutual respect and the ability to rise above partisan divides,” Honecke said in his concession statement.
Presidential elections in Benin ‘peaceful’
CENA head Saika Lafia said the elections were held peacefully.
According to the AFP news agency, an election monitoring platform set up by civil society groups reported nearly a hundred incident “alerts”.
These cases included polling stations that opened early or where ballot boxes were filled before voting began.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) election observation mission praised the “peaceful atmosphere” and “smooth conduct of the elections”.
According to the Election Commission, approximately 7.9 million people were eligible to vote in the election, resulting in a voter turnout of 58.75% across the country.
Turnout was very low in the capital, Porto-Novo, where it ranged from 20% to 40% at some polling stations.
Barriers to opposition
However, analysts noted before the election that Talon had systematically restricted political participation with a number of measures during his presidency.
For example, the largest opposition party, Les Democrats, was not on the ballot.
Constitutional changes implemented last year meant the party failed to win any seats in the January legislative election.
As part of these changes, presidential candidates must also be endorsed by members of the National Assembly. But without any members in the assembly, the Democrat leader, Renaud Agbodjo, was unable to muster enough support.
“Given the obstacles to opposition party participation, the 2026 contest starts with a tilted playing field,” a Analysis by Africa Center for Strategic StudiesA part of the US Department of Defense, met before the election.
Benin faces challenges of poverty, insecurity
Thanks to its miles of beaches and several completed infrastructure projects, Benin has enjoyed rapid economic growth and increased tourism.
However, the country of 14.5 million still faces major challenges, including a significant wealth gap.
The poverty rate (the percentage of people living on $3 (€2.60) per day) is estimated at less than 30%, and many people feel that they have not felt the benefits of economic growth.
Another threat to the country’s stability is the spread of deadly jihadist violence from the Sahel region to the north of Benin.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko