The Democrats (french: Les Démocrates, LD) is a political party in Benin. Founded and led by former President

Thomas Boni Yayi Thomas Boni Yayi (born 1 July 1951) is a Beninese banker and politician who was President of Benin from 2006 to 2016. He took office after winning the March 2006 presidential election and was re-elected to a second term in March 2011. He also s ...

, it is currently the only

opposition party Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

represented in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

following the 2023 Beninese parliamentary election. Ideologically, the party has been described as

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

History

The Democrats were founded by former President

in July 2019, and were registered to the

Autonomous National Electoral Commission In developmental psychology and morality, moral, political, and bioethics, bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who g ...

(ANEC) on 11 December 2020, although the party had no elected officials yet at the time. Ahead of the 2023 Beninese parliamentary election, the party announced its intent to contest the election and called for "an inclusive, free, transparent and peaceful ballot." The party also sought to involve the opposition at all levels of the electoral process. In the parliamentary election, the Democrats obtained 24.16% of the vote and 28 deputies, marking the return of the opposition to the

after four years of absence. Eric Houndété, the president of the Democrats, dismissed the results, declaring that "the Democratic Party rejects these results, which do not reflect the will of the people to make us the first political force in the country" and making claims of

vote buying Vote buying (also referred to as electoral clientelism and patronage politics) occurs when a political party or candidate distributes money or resources to a voter in an upcoming election with the expectation that the voter votes for the actor handi ...

and

ballot stuffing Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

by the two main pro-government parties.

Ideology

The party is described as ideologically

due to its positions on

free education Free education is education funded through government spending or charitable organizations rather than tuition funding. Many models of free higher education have been proposed. Primary school and other comprehensive or compulsory education is fr ...

, the role of

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.caesarean section Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or mo ...

s. During the 2021 Beninese presidential election, the Democrats' electoral program sought to invest massively in the Beninese economy in order to fight against

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

and

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

among young people.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Parliamentary elections

Footnotes

References

2019 establishments in Benin 2020 establishments in Benin Political parties established in 2019 Political parties in Benin {{Benin-party-stub