\n WEST AFRICA<\/a>AFRICA IN 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n
\n 9 Jan 2026
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PREVIEW<\/p>\n
\n The wave of military coups is still challenging the regional bloc\u2019s governance prescriptions<\/p>\n
![\"West](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6701-west-africa.jpeg\")
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The results from Benin\u2019s parliamentary elections on 11 January will decide whether there is a strong opposition challenge ahead of April\u2019s presidential elections likely to be won by Romuald Wadagni<\/a>, the chosen successor of incumbent Patrice Talon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Currently finance minister, Wadagni will inherit a strong economy but widespread political disenchantment after the failed coup in December whose leader, Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri<\/a> remains at large.<\/p>\n Parliamentary and presidential elections are due in Cabo Verde in October. The government of President Jose\u0301 Maria Neves may ramp up spending ahead of the vote and undermine the latest fiscal reforms according to the IMF.<\/p>\n A national debate on constitutional reform and ending term limits are set to dominate politics in Gambia ahead of national elections due on 5 December. Also likely to fire up the country\u2019s politics is the threatened return to Gambia of deposed military leader Yahya Jammeh<\/a>, exiled in Equatorial Guinea. Incumbent President Adama Barrow<\/a>, who has attempted to draw in some of Jammeh\u2019s old political base, has been unclear about whether the former leader would face immediate arrest and prosecution on the extant charges of corruption and murder.<\/p>\n Politics in Guinea-Bissau will be dominated by the after-effects of the bizarre and failed coup attempt against outgoing President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and the associated pursuit of opposition leader Fernando Dias da Costa. The Economic Community of West African States is trying to pressure the interim leader General Horta Int-A Na Man to keep to the schedule to return the country to civil rule by November 2026.<\/p>\n Three years away from the next election in Liberia, 2026 will be an opportunity for President Joseph Boakai<\/a> to push ahead with his governance and economic reforms. There will also be some important diplomatic work: Liberia\u2019s two-year stint on the UN Security Council starts in January and it is at the centre of the \u2018Liberty Corridor\u2019 project linked to a high-quality iron ore mine at Kon Kweni being promoted by Peter Pham<\/a>, former United States envoy to the Great Lakes.<\/p>\n The polite term for Sierra Leone\u2019s governance lapses, which include the first family\u2019s hosting of a Dutch citizen charged with cocaine smuggling, is called \u2018reform fatigue\u2019 by the IMF. The fund also warns that poor management public spending cuts could make its economic reform program politically unsustainable. That is highly relevant for President Julius Maada Bio<\/a>, whose standing was badly hit by the cocaine scandal last year (AC Vol 66 No 3, President Bio keeps cocaine lord in the family<\/a>, Vol 66 No 4, Freetown falls out with the Hague over cocaine<\/a>\u00a0& Vol 66 No 7,\u00a0The Hague doubts that Bio\u2019s government will arrest cocaine kingpin<\/a>). He will also have to contend with his ambitious lieutenants planning to run for the presidency in 2028: Chief Minister David Sengeh<\/a>, who has clashed with First Lady Fatima Bio<\/a>, and Vice President Mohammed <\/a>Juldeh Jalloh<\/a>. Both Bio\u2019s Sierra Leone People\u2019s Party and the opposition All People\u2019s Congress are set to spend much of the year on international reorganisation to tune up their electoral machines.<\/p>\n