Patrice Talon

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Patrice Talon
President of Benin
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 April 2016
Preceded by	Thomas Boni Yayi
Personal details
Born	(1958-05-01) 1 May 1958 (age 66) Ouidah, Dahomey
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Claudine Gbènagnon Talon
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Dakar

Patrice Talon (born 1 May 1958) is a Beninese businessman and politician who has been President of Benin since 6 April 2016.

Talon is of Fon origins and was born in Ouidah. He studied science at the University of Dakar and transferred to the National School of Civil Aviation in Paris. With dreams of becoming a pilot, Talon failed a medical test and this dream became an impossibility.^[1]

Known as the "King of Cotton" for his involvement in the cotton industry, Talon built his empire due to connections with the Beninese political class.^[2] He was a backer of President Thomas Boni Yayi, financing his campaigns for the 2006 and 2011 elections.^[3] In 2011, Talon received management of Cotonou’s imports at the Port of Cotonou. In 2012, he fled to France after he was accused of embezzling more than 18 million Euros in taxes.^[2] He fell out with Boni Yayi and was accused of involvement in a plot to kill him. He was subsequently pardoned in 2014.^[4]

Talon ran as an independent candidate in the March 2016 presidential election. Although he finished second to Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou of the Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin in the first round of voting, he won the second round with 65% of the vote. Speaking on 25 March 2016, Talon said that he would "first and foremost tackle constitutional reform", discussing his plan to limit presidents to a single term of five years in order to combat "complacency". He also said that he planned to slash the size of the government from 28 to 16 members.^[5]

He was sworn in on 6 April 2016.^[6] The composition of his government was announced later in the day. There was no prime minister, and two defeated presidential candidates who had backed Talon in the second round, Pascal Koupaki and Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane, were appointed to key posts; Koupaki as Secretary-General of the Presidency and Bio-Tchane as Minister of State for Planning and Development.^[7] Talon pledged to increase the fortunes of Benin in five years and improve its relationship with France.^[8] Some of his policy goals are reducing the power of the executive and reducing presidents to single terms of five years, an unheard of suggestion in Africa.^[1]

He is married to a woman from Porto-Novo and has two children.