AFRICA/BURKINA FASO - Burkina Faso′s election overshadowed by terrorism

Monday, 23 November 2020 elections   jihadists  

Ouagadougou (Agenzia Fides) - The votes in the presidential and parliamentary elections that took place in Burkina Faso yesterday, Sunday November 22, are still being counted. A total of 6,490,144 voters were entitled to vote for the Head of State and 127 members of the National Assembly. Despite the climate of tension due to the violence of jihadist groups that have threatned various regions of the country for years, there were no significant incidents except in Bobo-Dioulasso, where militants of some political parties accused each other of fraud. The prompt intervention of the security forces made it possible to restore order in a short time.
Yesterday, the president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), Newton Hamed Barry, said that "overall the vote is going well", without ignoring some difficulties in the regions where "the polling stations have not opened or reopened and then closed for security reasons".
"In Tin-Akoff, in the province of Uladan, in the Sahel, where 14 Burkinabe soldiers were killed in an attack on November 11th, the polling station was not opened for security reasons, and polling stations were opened in other locations and then closed for terrorist threats", said the President of CENI.
Among the 13 candidates for the highest office of the State there is outgoing President Roch Kaboré, the first President in the history of Burkina Faso, who was elected to office by democratic elections in November 2015. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 23/11/2020)


Share: