Burkina Faso: a young democracy

Burkina Faso: young democracy

by Polls Africa

Published October 2020

Election date

November 22nd 2020

Countdown

On 22 November 2020 Burkina Faso will head to the ballot to elect the President and National Assembly. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people in a two-round system, where if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round is held

In Summary

Burkina Faso is trying to build its democratic institutions following the 27-year tenure of Blaise Compaoré. The 2020 elections will be the second democratic presidential and legislative elections since Compaoré reign came to an end.

The incumbent President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, first elected in 2015, will be seeking a second term of 5 years as the candidate of the governing the People’s Movement for Progress (MPP) party. Kaboré is the first Burkina Faso non-interim president in 49 years without any past ties to the military.

The opposition

In a bid to mount strong campaigns against incumbent, more than 20 political parties came together in August 2020 and signed an agreement for collaboration to defeat Kaboré. The signatories, who include seasoned as well as rookie candidates, have termed their pact as historic and promised to mobilise the largest movement of oppositions supporters in Burkina Faso’s history. The parties agreed to support any one of theirs who would arrive in the second round.

Among the political figures are leader of the opposition Zéphirin Diabre of the UPC, Eddie Komboïgo of the CDP, Gilbert Noël Ouédraogo of the ADF / RDA, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo of the Agir Ensemble Movement and former Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida.

*	Candidate
	Tahirou Barry
	Zéphirin Diabré
	Ambroise Farama
	Roch Marc Christian Kaboré
	Monique Kam Yéli
	Harouna Kindo
	Eddie Komboïgo
	Ablassé Ouédraogo
	Gilbert Ouédraogo
	Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo
	Do Pascal Sessouma
	Abdoulaye Soma
	Aimé Tassembedo
	Yacouba Isaac Zida

2015 elections

On 29 November 2015 held its first national elections in the country since the 2014 Burkinabé uprising and the departure of President Blaise Compaoré, who had ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years. The presidential election was won by Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, who received 53% of the vote in the first round, negating the need for a second round. His closest opponent, Zéphirin Diabré, of the Union for Progress and Reform (UPC) party, who now leads the opposition got 29% of the vote. Turnout was placed at about 60%.

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Roch Marc Christian Kaboré	People's Movement for Progress	1,668,169	53.40%
Zéphirin Diabré	Union for Progress and Reform	924,811	29.60%
Tahirou Barry	National Rebirth Party	96,457	3.00%
Bénéwendé Stanislas Sankara	Union for Rebirth / Sankarist Party	86,459	2.70%
Ablassé Ouedraogo	Alternative Faso	60,134	1.90%
Saran Sérémé	Party for Development and Reform	53,900	1.70%
Victorien Barnabé Wendkouni Tougouma	African Movement of the Peoples	50,893	1.60%
Jean-Baptiste Natama	Independent	42,497	1.30%
Isaaka Zampaligré	Independent	38,064	1.20%
Adama Kanazoé	Independent	37,766	1.20%
Ram Ouédraogo	Rally of the Ecologists of Burkina	21,161	0.60%
Maurice Denis Salvador Yameogo	Rally of Democrats for Faso	15,266	0.40%
Boukaré Ouédraogo	Independent	15,007	0.40%
Françoise Toé	Independent	8,111	0.20%
Invalid votes		191,293
Total		3,309,988	100%
Voters turnout		5,517,015	60%

Chronology of Presidents

*	President	Bio
	8th President Roch Kaboré	Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, born 25 April 1957, is the current President of Burkina Faso, in office since 2015. Kaboré, a banker, previously served as the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso between 1994 and 1996 and President of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso from 2002 to 2012. He was elected as President of Burkina Faso in the November 2015 general election, winning a majority in the first round of voting. Upon taking office, he became the first non-interim president in 49 years without any past ties to the military. In the election of 29 November 2015, Kaboré won the election in the first round of voting, as the candidate of a new opposition party, the People's Movement for Progress (MPP). He received 53.5% of the vote against 29.7% for the second place candidate, Zephirin Diabré. He was sworn in as President on 29 December 2015.
	7th President Michel Kafando	Michel Kafando served as the transitional President of Burkina Faso from a period of one year from 2014 to 2015. Following the resignation of President Blaise Compaoré amidst mass protests on 31 October 2014, Kafando was chosen to serve as President during a year-long transitional period leading to the next election. He was sworn in on 18 November 2014. Kafando was briefly ousted by the Regiment of Presidential Security in a September 2015 coup, but he was restored to power within a week.
	6th President Blaise Compaoré	Blaise Compaoré, born 3 February 1951, was President of Burkina Faso for 27 years from 1987 to 2014. Compaoré was a top associate of President Thomas Sankara during the 1980s, and in October 1987, he led a coup d'état during which Sankara was killed. Subsequently, he introduced a policy of "rectification", overturning the leftist and Third Worldist policies pursued by Sankara. He won elections in 1991, in an election that was boycotted by the opposition, 1998, 2005, and 2010 in what were considered unfair circumstances. His attempt to amend the constitution to extend his 27-year term caused the 2014 Burkinabé uprising. On 31 October 2014, Compaoré resigned, whereupon he fled to the Ivory Coast.
	5th President Thomas Sankara	Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara, born 21 December 1949 was a Burkinabé revolutionary and President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. Sankara came to power through a coup d'état organised by Blaise Compaoré on 4 August 1983. Sankara saw himself as a revolutionary and was inspired by the examples of Cuba's Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and Ghana's military leader Jerry Rawlings. On the first anniversary of his accession in 1984, he renamed the country from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, meaning "the land of upright people". He also gave it a new flag and wrote a new national anthem (Une Seule Nuit). Sankara is viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution and is sometimes referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara". On 15 October 1987, after 4 years in power, Sankara was killed by an armed group with twelve other officials in a coup d'état organized by his former colleague Blaise Compaoré.
	4th President Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo	Jean-Baptiste Philippe Ouédraogo born 30 June 1942, served as President of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) from 1982 to 1983. A physician and since retired military officer, Ouédraogo participated in the November 1982 coup d'état in Upper Volta which ousted President of Upper Volta Saye Zerbo. He and his fellow military officers then formed the Conseil de Salut du Peuple (CSP). Shortly thereafter the council elected him President. The CSP also elected Thomas Sankara as Prime Minister in January 1983. However, a protracted dispute with Prime Minister Sankara resulted in his removal from power in a coup in August 1983 and imprisonment upto 1985. Upon being released, Ouédraogo resumed medical work. In 1992 he opened a clinic in the Somgandé district, south of Ouagadougou, the capital city, which he still operates. He has since mediated a few national political disputes.
	3rd President Jean-Saye Zerbo	Saye Zerbo was the third President of the Republic of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) for 2 years from 1980 to 1982. Zerbo, a military officer, led a coup in 1980 against President Sangoulé Lamizana and took on the positions of head of state and government. In the military government of Sangoulé Lamizana, who ruled Upper Volta from 1966, Saye Zerbo was minister of foreign affairs from 1974 to 1976. The trade unions in the country opposed his seizure of power, although they had supported Zerbo for a long time, and on 7 November 1982, Saye Zerbo was deposed by Thomas Sankara in another coup d'état. After being deposed, Zerbo was also incarcerated and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was however released from jail in August 1985. Zerbo died on 19 September 2013 aged 81.
	2nd President Aboubakar Sangoulé Lamizana	Aboubakar Sangoulé Lamizana served as the President of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), from 14 years from 1966 to 1980. Sangoulé Lamizana, a military general, came to power as nominal head of a "provisional military government" after the first president Maurice Yaméogo was forced to resign by a general strike on January 3, 1966. After a new Constitution was ratified on June 14, 1970, elections delivered a clear majority to the governing party, Union démocratique voltaïque (UDV). Lamizana later held an additional position of Prime Minister from 1974 to 1978. A new Constitution was written and approved in 1977, and Lamizana was reelected in open elections in 1978: this election is generally considered as being among the most democratic ever held in West Africa. With the support of unions and civil groups, Lamizana was overthrown by Col. Saye Zerbo in a bloodless military coup in November 1980. He died on May 26, 2005 aged 89 in Ouagadougou.
	1st President Maurice Yaméogo	Maurice Yaméogo, born 31 December 1921 was the first President of Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta), from 1959 until 1966. Yaméogo joined the coalition government formed by Ouezzin Coulibaly, as minister for agriculture and a member of the Voltaic Democratic Movement (MDV) in May 1957, during the formation of the first Upper Voltaic government. Coulibaly enticed Maurice Yaméogo and his allies in the assembly to join the Voltaic Democratic Union-African Democratic Assembly (UDV-RDA) in exchange for promises of promotion within the government. Maurice Yaméogo rose to be his second in command, with the portfolio of the Interior, a position which allowed him to assume the role of interim head of government, following Coulibay's death in September 1958. On 3 January 1966, as a result of severe financial austerity measures, Yaméogo's regime was overthrown by a peaceful protest organised by the unions, traditional chieftains and the clergy. He died in 1993 in Ouagadougou aged 71.
		Independence from France in 1960