Former Speaker of Benin\u2019s National Assembly, Me Adrien Houngb\u00e9dji, has once again spoken out in favor of political appeasement in the country. Speaking on April 15, 2025, at the Youth Summit, the leader of the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD)\u2014despite being an ally of the current government\u2014issued a solemn call for national reconciliation and a more open democratic process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This message follows a stance he had already expressed in February, when he criticized practices of \u201cpolitical exclusion\u201d and called for a reestablishment of democratic principles in Benin. Once again, Me Houngb\u00e9dji urged political actors to avoid any form of marginalization as the 2026 general elections approach. \u201cThe opposition must take part in the elections. There is no democracy without opposition,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While emphasizing the need for \u201crules that apply to everyone,\u201d the former parliamentary leader referred to the 2019 legislative elections\u2014calling them a \u201cwahala\u201d (trouble)\u2014to highlight the consequences of a non-inclusive vote. He also recalled the founding ideals of the PRD in 1990: democracy, freedom, rule of law, and unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a political climate still marked by tensions\u2014particularly around the return of exiles and the issue of political detainees\u2014Me Houngb\u00e9dji also advocated for the release of political prisoners, stating that \u201cthe country\u2019s future cannot be built on division.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though voiced by a political figure close to the regime, his remarks are being seen as a warning to those in power about the dangers of a non-consensual electoral process. He called for \u201cremaining united to build the country together,\u201d stressing the importance of inclusive political dialogue to preserve social peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Speaker of Benin\u2019s National Assembly, Me Adrien Houngb\u00e9dji, has once again spoken out in favor of political appeasement in the country. Speaking on April 15, 2025, at the Youth Summit, the leader of the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD)\u2014despite being an ally of the current government\u2014issued a solemn call for national reconciliation and a more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":314161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_trash_the_other_posts":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"pays":[119],"personnalite":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-527129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy-news-benews","8":"pays-benin"},"acf":{"type_de_publication":"opinion","nom_de_linstitution":"","description_de_linstitution":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527129"},{"taxonomy":"pays","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pays?post=527129"},{"taxonomy":"personnalite","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/personnalite?post=527129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}