Benin: End of secret ballots for municipal commissions, a partisan lock-in approved.
The regulatory framework for municipal councils has just undergone a major shift.
By Decree No. 2026-028, the Head of State, Patrice Talon, amended Article 45 of the 2022 decree relating to the organization of permanent commissions. The reform ends the systematic resort to secret ballots and now enshrines partisan designation of the chairs of the commissions.
A legally significant evolution with far-reaching consequences, which buries what some observers already describe as “electoral risk” within the municipal councils. This modification comes at a strategic moment, on the eve of the officialization by the ruling coalition parties, namely the Union Progressiste Le Renouveau and Bloc Républicain, of the modalities for designating mayors and their deputies.
According to sources consulted by lamarinabj, it is a discreet yet structural reform that touches the heart of how the commune operates: the permanent commissions, true technical engines of municipal action.
By amending Decree No. 2022-321 of 1 June 2022, the President of the Republic chose to reduce the uncertainty that had surrounded the designation of commission chairs, often marked by fragile balances and unpredictable reshuffles.
From the sovereignty of the Council to partisan preeminence
The essential rupture introduced by the decree signed on 4 February 2026 concerns the mode of access to responsibilities. The text establishes a clear hierarchy: when a party holds an absolute majority within the municipal council, it directly designates the chairs of the commissions, without going through a vote.
In the absence of an absolute majority, the reform formalizes the municipal governance accords, allowing the signatory parties to jointly carry out the designations.
The secret ballot, which had until now been the rule, thus becomes a last-resort solution. It is used only when no majority emerges and no political agreement is reached. For an institutional analyst, this evolution turns the chairs of commissions into true political intermediaries for the mayor within the Supervisory Council.
The stake is strategic. The chairs of commissions sit alongside the mayor and his deputies in the body charged with guiding and validating major municipal decisions. By controlling these posts, political formations effectively lock down the technical steering of the municipality.
The other councillors, deprived of any arbitral power, find themselves relegated to a secondary role.
A preserved legal framework
Despite this deep reconfiguration, the new device maintains the foundational principles of the decentralization reform.
The rules of incompatibility remain unchanged: the mayor, his deputies and the heads of districts remain excluded from chairing any permanent commission, in order to preserve the separation between political executive and technical oversight.
The obligation to participate is also renewed: each municipal councillor must sit on one and only one commission.
The overall institutional architecture remains stable, with four permanent commissions per municipality and a cap of thirteen members per commission.
The 2026 decree, however, introduces a decisive timing detail. Permanent commissions must now be formed within a maximum of fifteen days after the installation of the municipal council. This requirement aims to strengthen the operational efficiency of the new teams and to avoid prolonged deadlocks.
This new legal framework has already found political translation. For the 2026-2033 term, the majority parties have acted on a standardized distribution: in municipalities where a coalition dominates, the leading party gains the presidency of three out of four commissions, leaving the last to the minority partner.
The political consensus thus enshrines what the new decree now fully enables: an integrated, structured local governance firmly anchored to partisan balances.
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