On Sunday, 29 November, around 5.5 million people are expected at the polls in Burkina Faso to elect the next president and the 127 members of Parliament. These elections, the first after the ousting of former president Blaise Compaoré, will see 14 presidential candidates and 6 944 Parliamentary candidates vie for top spots in the country’s leadership. The current mind-set among most Burkinabes is a mixture of hope and anxiety. The electoral process, which was interrupted following the attempted coup d’état of 16 September 2015, was meant to end with elections initially scheduled for 11 October. Although some voters seem to have lost faith in the power of the ballot as a means to express and realise their expectations, many remain hopeful that these elections could mark the beginning of long-awaited change. The polls will certainly be a test for the country’s democratic maturity.
With four days to go before the polls, it is important to note that the electoral campaign, officially launched on 8 November, has so far taken place amid a generally peaceful atmosphere. President Michel Kafando, the current leader of the transitional government, has called for a calm atmosphere free of hate speech or incitement to violence.
This was echoed by other personalities, such as the president of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) and the Attorney General of the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal, and their pleas for peace seem to have been heard. Except for a few cases of posters being vandalised and some verbal bluster, there have been no major incidents to disturb the campaign or cause tension.
Full Article: Burkina Faso Set for an Electoral Uprising? – allAfrica.com.
