Benin inaugurates Romuald Wadagni as president after Talon’s two terms

Benin inaugurated Romuald Wadagni as president on May 24, 2026. He replaced Patrice Talon, who stepped down after serving two terms. The ceremony marked the latest peaceful transfer of power in a country that has held regular elections since 1991.

That year, opposition candidate Nicéphore Soglo defeated Mathieu Kérékou in a vote the incumbent had organized. Kérékou had taken power in a 1972 coup and ruled as a Marxist-Leninist dictator. He banned the practice of Voodoo priests, whom he viewed as a threat to state authority, and nationalized industries, contributing to economic decline by the end of the Cold War.

Soglo rehabilitated Voodoo, known locally as Vodún, as part of national heritage. Kérékou later sought reelection in 1996 and adopted a more tolerant stance toward the religion. ” Kérékou created the National Voodoo Board and supported a national Vodún holiday observed each January 10 since 1996.

He also campaigned for Vodún support in Ouidah during his 2001 reelection bid. ” Gerrie ter Haar, an emeritus professor at Erasmus University, said Kérékou “remained terrified to become a victim of a Vodún curse and had to search for stronger spiritual power” he saw in evangelical Christianity.

U.S. State Department. Mahougnon Kakpo, a lawmaker in Cotonou, said “Vodún is the first religion of all Beninese. ” Ouidah, on the Gulf of Guinea, remains the spiritual center of Vodún.