The President of the Republic shall be elected by direct universal suffrage for a mandate of five years, renewable only one time.

[3] The election of the President of the Republic shall take place with a uninominal majority ballot in two rounds.

[7] The candidate having received the relative majority of votes cast in the second round shall be declared elected.

[9] Before taking his office, the President of the Republic shall take the following oath:[10] Before God, the Manes [spirits] of the ancestors, the Nation and before the Béninese People, the only holder of sovereignty; I, President of the Republic, elected in accordance with the laws of the Republic do solemnly swear — To respect and defend the Constitution which the Béninese People have freely given to themselves; — To fulfill loyally the high office that the Nation has entrusted to me; — To allow myself to be guided only by the general interest and the respect for human rights to consecrate all my strength to the research and the promotion of the common good, of peace and of national unity; — To preserve the integrity of the national territory; — To conduct myself everywhere as a faithful and loyal servant of the people.

[11] In case of absence from the territory, of illness and of vacation of the President of the Republic, his interim shall be assumed by a member of the Government whom he shall have designated and within the limitation of powers that he shall have delegated to him.