LD’s absence from the 2026 presidential election: Wilfried Houngbedji absolves the government
A guest on the show Invité Afrique this Friday, October 31, 2025, on RFI, government spokesperson Wilfried Léandre Houngbédji spoke about the case of MP Michel Sodjinou, elected under the banner of the party Les Démocrates (LD).
Facing journalist Christophe Boisbouvier, he ruled out any responsibility of the authorities in this episode that weakened the candidacy of the party of former president Boni Yayi for the 2026 presidential election.
Asked about the withdrawal of the MP’s sponsorship, which compromised the opposition party’s participation in the vote, Wilfried Léandre Houngbédji said it was above all an internal problem. In his view, the party’s leadership should have anticipated the internal tensions.
“ If he knows he has exactly the needed number of sponsors, he should have adapted his governance to satisfy everyone and ensure that in the end there is a median that brings together all tendencies within the party,” he emphasized.
The government spokesperson insisted that this defection was not the result of any political maneuver.
“We simply take note. We weren’t asking that much, because we prepared ourselves with the quality of our governance,” he said, adding that the presidential majority already had “a candidate with an impressive profile who can beat any opponent.”
Responding to those who suspect the authorities of wanting to stifle any opposition seven months before the election, Wilfried Léandre Houngbédji recalled that President Talon has always accepted democratic confrontation. “For more than nine years, he has faced the opposition in all its forms,” he noted.
According to him, the head of state now aspires to a calm political climate for the post-2026 period.
“He told young people that he’d like, after him, for the political class to find a way to come together to promote the country’s development,” concluded the spokesperson.
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