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I wanted to share with you a note from NDI's Chris Fomunyoh who writes from
Ouagadougou about last Sunday's historic election in Burkina Faso -- the
culmination of a year-long, tumultuous transition to democratic rule.

With best regards,

Ken

Kenneth Wollack
President
National Democratic Institute
455 Massachusetts Ave., NW, 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20001
202-728-5500 (Tel)
888-875-2887 (Fax)
email: ken@ndi.org
website: www.ndi.org


Dear Ken and colleagues,

In the past week, the people of Burkina Faso again surprised many Africa
watchers – the third time in 15 months – by holding what many observers
have described as ‟the freest and fairest" elections in the country’s
history. The first surprise came in October 2014, when a largely peaceful
and highly coordinated citizen revolt over constitutional term limits led
to the ouster of former military officer - turned Head of State Blaise
Compaore, putting an end to his 27 years rule and strong grip on political
power. As Compaore fled the country, a transition government was installed
to run the state and conduct presidential and legislative elections within
one year. A few weeks before those elections, initially scheduled for
October 11, renegade troops from Compaore’s president guard stormed the
state house and staged a coup to forestall the transition
process. Fortunately, the population took to the streets again and, under
the leadership of various civil society organizations, labor unions,
opposition political parties, and the rest of the military, squashed the
coup. As the country finally went to the polls on November 29, there was
considerable anxiety and uncertainty about how successful the polls would
be, and whether the contestants and their supporters would all accept the
outcome.

Four days after election day, Burkinabes continue to take pride in their
accomplishments, and for good reason: the Independent Election Commission
(CENI) administered the polls in a very transparent and professional
manner, and used new technology to transmit, process and announce election
results within 24 hours; poll workers were well trained and hence very
knowledgeable of voting procedures; voters turned out in fairly high
numbers, waited patiently in sometimes long lines, and cast their ballots
peacefully; political parties and candidates had poll watchers in polling
stations; and civil society organizations deployed thousands of citizen
observers across the country to monitor the polls, with one coalition –
CODEL – conducting a parallel vote tabulation (PVT) to collect and transmit
data on various phases of the elections in real time and later verify the
accuracy of the official results announced by the CENI. Upon the CENI’s
announcement of provisional results for the presidential race, the second
place candidate – Zephirin Diabre of the UPC -- tweeted a statement
conceding defeat, and then visited the campaign headquarters of the
declared winner – Roch Marc Kabore of the MPP -- to congratulate him.

Results of the legislative polls were announced last night, and do track
party performance in the presidential polls as the leading party – the MPP
– won 55 seats while the UPC won 33 seats and the former ruling party, the
CDP, won 18 seats. The National Assembly has 127 seats, and so the MPP is
going to have to build alliances with other parties in the Assembly to
obtain a parliamentary majority. We also expect there will be at least
three parliamentary groups (or caucuses) in the new legislature. This
bodes well for the legislature which many Burkinabes expect will assert
itself as a co-equal branch of government, better represent citizen
interests, and exercise proper oversight over the executive branch.

In the next few years, Burkina Faso may still face some challenges
grappling with governance issues. These include transitional justice
matters pertaining to criminal acts committed by members of the Compoare
regime, constitutional reforms to further consolidate and safeguard the
country’s nascent democracy, legislative strengthening for members of the
new National Assembly, security sector reform, youth unemployment, and
meeting high expectations and citizen needs in the social sectors such as
education, health, and infrastructure development. Given Burkina Faso’s
geographic location in the Sahel, the country will also be exposed to other
vulnerabilities such as potential terrorist attacks by jihadist extremists,
and food security. Fortunately, the country now has a duly elected and
therefore legitimate government, a politically active citizenry that is
determined to hold its leaders accountable and, hopefully, political
leaders who now appreciate the valuable contribution that civil society and
other tenets of democracy can bring to the governance process. During my
one week stay in Ouagadougou, I and my colleagues here discussed these
issues extensively with our Burkinabe partners, including President-elect
Kabore and second place candidate Diabre who is now set to play the role of
main opposition leader. Both leaders are very conversant, and expressed
appreciation for NDI’s programs in the country over the past decade. They
both pledged to continue to engage with our in-country team going forward.

Our efforts would not have been possible without the support of USAID,
Swiss Cooperation, SIDA, and the Taiwanese representation. Burkina Faso
Senior Resident Director Aminata Kasse, Program Director Dany Ayida and the
rest of our colleagues in the Burkina Faso office as well as the country
team in DC carried out effective and impactful projects, and built strong
and enduring relations with extraordinary civic and political partners.

Best regards,

Chri