Burkina Faso votes as Compaore seeks fourth term as president

OUAGADOUGOU, Sunday

Voters trickled to the polls on Sunday as Burkina Faso voted in presidential elections with incumbent Blaise Compaore expected to win a fourth term amid fears he could extend his grip on power indefinitely.

Mr Compaore, 59, has led the impoverished African nation since 1987 when he staged the country’s fifth military coup since independence in 1960.

Speaking as he cast his ballot with his wife Chantal at a polling station in the centre of Ouagadougou, Compaore urged as many people to vote as possible.

“We want to see the people turn out in massive numbers as this is a moment which allows us, including those of us who are in power, to assess where we are and also to look to the future,” Mr Compaore said.

“We must place our faith in the choice of the people and we await their choice with confidence,” the president added.

But turnout was visibly low in early voting today in the capital Ouagadougou and other main cities, residents said. A low turnout is expected to play into Compaore’s hands. Turnout was 57.6 per cent in 2005, when Compaore won 80 per cent of the vote.

Supporters say Mr Compaore has brought stability to the land-locked former French colony and established himself as “mediator-in-chief” in other West African nations beset by crises.

The country remains one of the poorest in the world with nearly half of its 16 million population living in poverty.

The opposition, which boycotted the nation’s first two democratic polls in 1991 and 1998, remains weak, divided and lacking a strong, charismatic personality.

It is fielding six candidates including lawyer Benewende Stanislas Sankara who finished in second place in the 2005 ballot with nearly five percent of the vote compared to the president’s 80 percent.

Pargui Emile Pare, who scored less than one percent in 2005, was also standing along with first-time candidates former army commander Boukary Kabore, diplomat and former UN official Hama Arba Diallo, hydrogeologist Ouampoussoga Francois Kabore, and independent Maxime Kabore.

Polling among the 3.2 million registered voters started at 6 am (GMT) and was due to end at 6 pm.

If re-elected, Mr Compaore has pledged to carry out political and institutional reform including the creation of a senate in addition to the national assembly.

But his party has taken upon itself one highly contentious task. The Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) said several months ago it wished to abolish the limit on the number of times the president can run for office, fixed in 1991 at two five-year terms.

In this way, Compaore could stand again in 2015 and beyond, after two five-year and two seven-year terms. However, the influential Roman Catholic Church and the opposition have denounced the plan.

After voting in the capital’s Ouaga suburb, 19-year-old student Sylvie Christiane Kabore told AFP he hoped his “candidate Blaise Compaore will win”, as he was a “pleasant man” whose programme he likes since it was meant to give Burkina Faso a boost.