{"id":29797,"date":"2026-03-24T18:41:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=29797"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:41:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:41:44","slug":"benins-opposition-party-wont-endorse-presidential-vote","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/benins-opposition-party-wont-endorse-presidential-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Benin\u2019s opposition party won\u2019t endorse presidential vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Benin, the opposition party Les D\u00e9mocrates has announced it will not issue any voting instructions for the upcoming presidential election on April 12, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Weakened by the absence of its own candidate and with limited presence in elective institutions for the coming years, the party has chosen not to align with existing political blocs, fearing it could dilute its position. The decision comes amid ongoing departures from the party, following that of its former President and former Head of state Thomas Boni Yayi. On Sunday, two more senior party officials publicly resigned.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the situation, geopolitical consultant Morgan Assogba Metondji said, \u201cLes D\u00e9mocrates are clearly recalibrating their political strategy. By stepping back from the election, they aim to preserve their identity and avoid being absorbed into existing power structures, but they risk losing influence as key members continue to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":29798,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-29797","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"In Benin, the opposition party Les D\u00e9mocrates has announced it will not issue any voting instructions","published_date":"2026-03-24 18:35:51","news_description":"In Benin, the opposition party Les D\u00e9mocrates has announced it will not issue any voting instructions","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29799,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29797\/revisions\/29799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}