Career

• Houngbedji entered politics and was elected a member of Parliament and occupied twice as President of the National Assembly from 1991 to 1995 and from 1999 to 2003.
  
  In 1990 he founded the Party of Democratic Renewal which he was the president and became a major political figure of Benin.
  
  From 1996 to 1998, he was the Prime Minister, responsible for the coordination of government action and relations with institutions and government spokesman.
  
  He was elected co-president of the ACP-EU Parliament in 2001. On February 13, 2003, Houngbédji was elected as mayor of Benin's administrative capital, Porto Novo, by the city's council; he took office on the same day. Houngbédji was re-elected to the National Assembly in the March 2003 parliamentary election, and in April 2003 he left the opposition to join the presidential majority. He resigned as Mayor of Porto Novo in June 2003. Member of the Academy of Sciences overseas, he published a book in October 2005 outlining his political vision of Benin and Africa. He is a member of Grand Cross of the National Order of Benin.
  
  In 2006 Adrien Houngbedji was a candidate for the presidential election after holding the third place in the 1996 and 2001. He lost in the second round of voting on March 19, 2006 by Yayi Boni.
  
  Houngbédji was re-elected to the National Assembly in the March 2007 parliamentary election. He was again defeated by Yayi Boni in the March 2011 presidential election, although he disputed the official results, which showed Boni winning a first-round majority. At the DRP's Third Ordinary Congress, held in February 2012, Houngbédji was re-elected as President of the DRP.

Personality

Connections

• Wife: -
• Seven children: -
• nephew: Marc Houngbedji
  Athlete