Benin finance minister Wadagni seeks his own mandate in election

Benin Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni is expected to make the leap from behind-the-scenes technocrat to ​head of state on Sunday when he runs as the strong favourite in a presidential election clouded by jihadist attacks in the north.

The 49-year-old former Deloitte executive has spent the past decade implementing the economic agenda of outgoing President Patrice Talon, who is barred by constitutional term limits from running again.

His campaign points to achievements such as tripling the national budget and posting cotton-exporting Benin’s highest GDP growth rates in more than two decades.

Talon’s tenure has featured a consolidation of power within the presidency and the almost total sidelining of the political opposition, easing Wadagni’s path to ​power.

Since his selection as ruling party candidate last September, Wadagni has played down the idea of any major break from the man with whom he shares, as ​he told French magazine “Jeune Afrique” last month, “almost like a father-and-son relationship”.

He has proposed creating new development hubs across the country – to better distribute ⁠industrial and tourism investments – and expanding access to healthcare, while touting the benefits of continuity from one government to the next.