Benin's President continues to assemble the building blocks for an undemocratic election in 2021
I need to rename this blog! I haven't been keeping up with the daily schedule, not even close. But it's summer - maybe I'll get back on schedule. Let's do a quick catch-up with Benin, which is my spiritual home in Africa. An article about this year's local elections is called "Benin's 2021 presidential election is already decided." That's weird -- why would local elections (for 1,815 "city council" members) have such an effect on a presidential election in the following year? There have been signs of Patrice Talon's aspirations for power for years. In 2012 he was arrested for his alleged role in a plot to poison then-president Boni Yayi, whose campaigns Talon had previously helped fund. Talon was also implicated in a coup attempt against the president in 2013, and then pardoned in 2014. In 2016 , Talon defeated Boni Yayi's selected successor for the presidency. Soon after he was elected, Talon attempted to push constit...