Elections for the presidency and legislature of Burkina Faso held on the 22nd of November where up to 13 candidates contested for office. The vote had a 50% voter turnout with over 3 million votes cast. Unfortunately, in some territories in the north of Burkina Faso, nearly one-fifth of the country was excluded from voting due to violent extremism.
President Roch Marc Christian Kabore received most of the votes, winning a second term. “Mr Kabore… with 57.87 per cent of the vote, is provisionally elected President of (Burkina) Faso in the first round,” Newton Ahmed Barry of the Independent National Electoral announced on Thursday. Eddie Komboigo came second with 15.48 per cent of the vote while Zephirin scored 12.46 per cent of votes.
Opposition groups have called out irregularities like fraud and bribery in the elections but the claims are being dismissed by the Electoral Commission. However, they have seven days to officially to challenge the outcome of the elections.
What Next for Burkina Faso?
If opposition figures do not gain any grounds contesting the results of the elections, Mr Kabore will be well on his way to a second term. After many years of a hybrid regime under Blaise Compaore, the West African country is now coming undone with several ethnic divisions, an intense climate crisis and armed violence in the north of Burkina Faso, alongside worsening economic and living conditions of Burkinabe. While these issues did not begin when Kabore came into office, they have intensified under his administration and require his immediate attention now and as he enters a second tenure.
The international crisis group has advised the Burkinabe government to reduce the use of force as well as self-defence militia in counter-insurgency operations and encourage its security forces to strengthen and enforce internal control mechanisms to limit the abuses that play to jihadists’ advantage.
