Waiting to vote. Photo: Olympia de Marismón
On Sunday, November 29, 3,309,988 burkinabés chose their new president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, of the MPP party (Mouvement du Peuple pour le Progrès – or People’s Progressive Movement). But it wasn’t until December 15 – two weeks later – that the Constitutional Congress proceeded to finally proclaim the results.
A bit more than a year after the last president, Blaise Compaoré, left power, the burkinabés – under the watchful eyes of 17,000 local and international observers, chose a new Head of State from among 14 candidates, and 127 Representatives from among more than 3,000 candidates.
In a population of 18.5 million people, there were 5,517,015 registered to vote, of whom 3,308,988 exercised the right, with 191,293 votes nullified. This added up to 60 percent participation.
Newly chosen President celebrates the victory with his wife and his team, the Larlé Naaba among them
The results were reported little by little over the 48 hours after the elections. But right from the start Roch Marc Christian Kaboré stood out as the winner. On December 1, just after midnight, Maitre Barthélémy Kére, President of the CENI (the Independent National Electoral Commission) that has done a great job of ensuring that the elections were carried out properly, declared Roch the provisional winner, with 53.49% of the votes.
A man with a long political career in Blaise Campaoré’s party – the CDP (Congrès pour la Democratie et le Progrès – or Democracy and Progress Congress), Roch Kaboré resigned from the party in 2014 along with 74 other party members over their disagreement with the proposed amendment to Article 37 of the Constitution, which was announced by Blaise and would have allowed him to run again. Together, the former CDP members formed the MPP party, led by Roch Kaboré.
Zéphirin Diabré’s campaign poster. Photo: Raphael Fournier/Divergence
Behind Roch Kaboré in the election results, with 29,65%, was Mr. Zéphirin Diabré, the candidate from the UPC (Union pour le Progrès et le Changement – Union for Progress and Change), eternal rival in the opposition to Blaise.
Some problems, like the lack of ballot papers and the late opening of some of the voting sites, were par for the course, but in general the elections went forward with absolute peace and democratic harmony, which is new for our beloved Burkina.
Now that the results have been officially proclaimed, President Roch Kaboré will be sworn in on December 29. After the year this country has gone through, I can’t think of a better way to close the year!
You know me, I can’t help but have a deep faith in Providence and that all change is for the good. So I’m convinced that 2016 will be a year of stability and peace that will bring the first harbingers of better living conditions for this – my beloved -country….