Canada Presidential in Benin: Patrice Talon's outstretched hand to the opposition

© Sia KAMBOU / AFP The president of Benin Patrice Talon in 2017.

Benin is preparing for the presidential election on April 11. Patrice Talon, who organized legislative elections without the opposition in 2019, this time promises an "inclusive ballot" open to his opponents and pledges to do everything to implement it. But the opposition remains suspicious.

With our correspondent in Cotonou, Jean-Luc Aplogan

Patrice Talon drags like a ball the episode of the legislative elections of 2019 organized without the opposition . He is regularly accused of locking everything down and pushing back Benin's democracy. But he denies it about the future presidential election, set for April 11, 2021, about which he made this promise, on the tour.

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Businessman takes insurmountable lead in Benin presidential poll. Despite the backing of outgoing President Boni Yayi and the main opposition party, Zinsou, a former economist "I called Patrice Talon tonight to congratulate him on his victory and wish him luck," Zinsou said on his Facebook page.

Benin President Patrice Talon casts his ballot at the Charles Guiyot Zongo public school on May 17, 2020, as voting got underway for the local elections. Parties allied to the president won all the seats at the polls last year after opposition groups were effectively banned from standing but turnout was

"During the upcoming presidential elections, they will all be present, the Cauris Forces, the Democrats," he said. We will do everything to ensure that the candidate goes to the elections, so that the elections are "inclusive", so that we never fall back into what happened ". And Patrice Talon to add: “I will do everything in my power to ensure that the candidates of others have their sponsorships. "

" Democrats "refers to the future party being created by former President Boni Yayi. “We do not believe the words of the head of state, reacted his vice-president Nourénou Atchadé about the presidential commitment. We must force Patrice Talon to accept that in a democracy there must be elections for everyone and that it is not only him who designates the people he likes, to go to the elections. "

► To read also: Benin: Patrice Talon begins a national tour, the opposition denounces a" pre-campaign "