political survival : The hard fight of Paul Hounkpè

To preserve his status as leader of the opposition with the advantages attached to it, Paul Hounkpè must fight against both President Talon and the Democrats.

Show that he is the most opponent of opponents : this is what Paul Hounkpè has been trying to do lately. As the January legislative elections approach 2023, the first person in charge of the Fcbe multiplies the arrows against the power. He no longer misses an opportunity to castigate the government he accuses of evils for most of which public opinion has already risen for a long time.. “The situation experienced by the people and the distressing folklore that is observed by the current governance in our country sufficiently prove the disarray, the discomfiture and advanced deconstruction of our country”, did he rise up on 3 September 2022 at the 2nd ordinary session of his party in Lokossa. On the occasion of the meeting of the National Executive Bureau which took place this Saturday at the headquarters of the party, he invited the voters to "sanction" the power which he also accuses of "forfeiture".

During a television program in which he took part on 9 September, the leader of the opposition still had a hard tooth against President Talon and his reforms. But above all, he also went after those he calls “pseudo-opponents”, as if to point out that the Fcbe are the only opposition party.

Only opposition party currently to have advisers, the Fcbe and especially their leader see very badly the foreseeable rise of the Democrats, most of whom are defectors from the party he leads. Like a steamroller, the latter have begun to make a show of force on the ground to the point where it is not excluded that the legislative elections will be a duel between them and the two parties in power, namely the Progressive Union, the Renewal and the Republican Bloc.

Threatened in its very existence, the Fcbe party is therefore obliged to fire all wood, and hit the pile, even if it means appearing, as a Democratic official points out, an opponent of the opposition.

But there is no reason to believe that this strategy will pay off. By attacking his opposition peers, Paul Hounkpè will only vindicate those who already accused him of being a foil to power. On the other side, by firing red bullets at the President of the Republic and his policy, he risks putting an end to the state of grace he enjoys from the power. Like the other, neither mammals nor birds accept, he risks finding himself in a state of loneliness synonymous with political decline.

Pierre MATCHOUDO