Benin: MPs summoned to a plenary session this Monday

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As parliamentary tradition dictates, the president of Parliament presents his peers with a detailed account of the institution’s activities over the past period. This transparency exercise is part of internal oversight and the duty of accountability that governs the institution’s operations.

This report, the last that Louis Vlavonou will present as head of the institution, comes as the parliamentary landscape is shaken by defections within the main opposition party, Les Démocrates.

Several deputies, members of the Les Démocrates parliamentary group, have slammed the door and now sit as independents.

For many analysts, this session could serve as a real-world political test. First to gauge the cohesion and loyalty of the new internal alignments born from the wave of resignations, and then to assess the political reading each side will make ahead of the debate on the constitutional revision put forward by the parliamentary majority.

The outgoing president appears intent on closing out his term with the same line of conduct he has followed since assuming the institution’s leadership: reporting on his actions.

Item 2 on the agenda for Monday’s plenary covers the consideration of the proposal for constitutional revision.

Items 3 and 4 of the session concern the review of two organic bills, one amending the law on the Economic and Social Council, and the other the law relating to the Constitutional Court.

This plenary, which promises to be both technical and political, could mark a turning point in the country’s institutional history. Public attention and that of observers therefore remain focused on Porto-Novo, where debates around the proposed constitutional revision are expected to be decisive for Benin’s democratic trajectory.