Seven months before the legislative elections in Benin, the political commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF) sent a three-day information and contact mission to Cotonou. The purpose of this mission is to assess whether the conditions for pluralism are met for the vote on January 8, 2023.
With our correspondent in Cotonou, Jean-Luc Aplogan
The Delegation, made up of three parliamentarians, including two former foreign ministers of Gabon and Niger, completed its mission on Wednesday 25 May. But nothing filtered.
In particular, she discussed with the group of ambassadors of French-speaking countries accredited to Benin and saw the President of the National Assembly. She also met the two major parties, supporters of the president Patrice Talon.
On the opposition side, there was a meeting with the FCBE of Paul Hounkpè. The former head of state was on the list of personalities to see but he was abroad. It was therefore Éric Houndete who provided the interview.
Independent Audit of the Voters List
According to our information, his party is not in a logic of boycott, he wants to participate in the elections. Mr. Houndete however formulated some demands such as the release of political prisoners and the independent audit of the electoral list.
The delegation left without organizing a press conference, nor did it issue a press release. We do not know what follow-up it will give to this visit, but according to our sources the mission should produce a report and indicate whether there has been progress compared to 2019. It should also decide on the alerting of Parliament , set up by the APF since the legislative elections of 2019 during which the country – once cited as a democratic model – held a poll without any opposition party.