Cotonou – Benin’s main opposition party has chosen lawyer Renaud Agbodjo as its candidate in next year’s presidential election to challenge Economy Minister Romuald Wadagni of the ruling coalition, the party announced Tuesday.
President Patrice Talon, who has been in power since 2016, has said that he will not stand again because the constitution bars presidents from serving more than two terms.
It took several days of negotiations and a final night of talks by The Democrats, the main party within the opposition, to agree on 43-year-old Agbodjo.
The nomination committee “received and studied 34 dossiers in total… we managed to identify the candidate of The Democrats party for the 2026 presidential election”, committee president Christophe Monsia said early Tuesday, declaring they had picked Agbodjo.
Supporters waiting at the party’s headquarters sang, danced and cheered when they heard the news, AFP journalists saw.
Born for this.
So I dreamt it.
Nurtured it.
Took the step and reached for the diadem.Reintroducing, Benjamin Alpha Aidoo Esq.
Barrister & Solicitor on the Roll of the Supreme Court of Ghana. And a lot more to come.As always, only Him will supreme credit be given! pic.twitter.com/SiTxqlEuUL
— ALPHA ALPHA (@alpha_alfaGH) October 10, 2025
Agbodjo has made a name for himself in recent years acting as the lawyer for several opposition figures, including ex-minister Reckya Madougou, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2021 and fined for “complicity in terrorist acts”.
Agbodjo is part of a new generation of senior party members close to party chief and ex-president Thomas Boni Yayi, who ruled Benin for a decade until 2016 and cannot stand again as he is aged over 70.
The Democrats will face Wadagni, 49, in the April 2026 election. He submitted his candidacy at the electoral commission on Monday, ahead of Tuesday’s midnight deadline.
Benin has seen robust growth over the past decade but the small west African country has faced jihadist incursions in the north.
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Source: AFP
