Benin's National Assembly has voted to temporarily dismantle CENA (the Autonomous National Electoral Commission), the body responsible for organising and overseeing the West African nation's elections. The move has been framed as a cost-cutting measure, with recent constitutional reforms having extended presidential, parliamentary, and municipal mandates to seven years, reducing the immediate need for electoral oversight. Authorities say the Council of Ministers will manage the transition — including the handling of CENA's assets and commitments — while a new institutional framework better suited to the reformed electoral calendar is developed.