Elections in Burkina Faso: the compilation, a long-term job for exhausted teams
A mountain of bags of ballot papers in front of the entrance to the Ouaga 1 compilation center, in Burkina Faso, November 23, 2020 © Paulina Zidi / RFI
Text by: Paulina Zidi Follow
6 min
Burkina Faso is now awaiting the results of the two elections, legislative and presidential, which were held in the country this Sunday, November 22.
After the count, it is now time to compile.
Work that is done in 368 municipal centers across the country.
Report to the communal center of the town hall of Ouaga 1 in the center of the capital.
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From our special correspondent in Ouagadougou,
“
We have almost finished the presidential election, we stop and we resume soon for the legislative elections.
»Seydou Ouédraogo, the coordinator of the compilation center of the 1st district of Ouagadougou announces a welcome break at the beginning of the afternoon.
The teams have worked all night and they are exhausted.
On the ground, Rolane made a small bed with a loincloth just to grab a few minutes of sleep.
Aïda, she didn't have the courage to move, she sleeps with her arms crossed on her computer keyboard.
"
It's work above all,
" says Filibert, yawning.
He was one of the data entry operators who therefore compiled the voting results overnight and entered them manually into the computer system of the Electoral Commission, the Ceni.
“
We haven't slept, we've been here since 6pm last night and all night, all this morning, we worked and it's not over yet.
"
The millions of ballots kept
As soon as the offices closed, Sunday at 6 p.m.,
the counting began
, it sometimes ended only this early Monday morning.
Officials then brought the election materials to the compilation center in person.
"
It was crowded here last night
," testifies one of the delegates of the candidates present in the courtyard of the center.
From 9 p.m., when we started getting the first feedback from the offices, there were cars and motorcycles everywhere.
There were even traffic jams in the street, it lasted part of the night.
»All under good security escort.
Indeed, throughout the electoral process, members of the armed forces are present in order to secure it.
In a large bag, we find the valid ballots.
These bags will be the last bulwark in the event of a dispute, they must be kept throughout the electoral operations and can be consulted in the event of disagreement.
In addition to the ballots, officials brought a sealed envelope.
Inside, there are the minutes, the result sheet and the count sheet.
All this is present in several copies for the different bodies which must guarantee the transparency and the good conduct of the ballot.
Candidates' delegates are vigilant
It is from this envelope that the compilation centers, like that of the 1st arrondissement of Ouagadougou, work and it is quite laborious.
“
You have to be able to understand all the numbers that are written by hand, check that everything is consistent.
It takes time,
”confirms one of the operators.
A job that is done under the watchful eye of the candidates' delegates.
For the presidential election,
they are 13 in the running
, but all have not always been represented in the polling stations and not all are represented in the municipal commissions, for lack of sufficient resources and teams.
There were indeed nearly 22,000 polling stations open for this double ballot and there are more than 360 communal compilation centers.
Judith, a delegate, has a broken voice, her bun is a little messy, a sign of a long night's work.
“
I've been here since yesterday.
We therefore compare the forms that we collected from the polling stations with those that are compiled here and we check that everything is correct.
You have to be very vigilant so that no one can complain about the results.
We are also very tired.
Besides, look, I have party comrades who have come to see me to encourage me, because they know that it is important what we do today.
"
The legislative elections are still on the program
And indeed, a little further on, several delegates have a lively discussion.
Presumably, there is a problem that they are together trying to solve.
"
Throughout the district, there are 221 polling stations and there, it looks like we only have 220 cards so we recount to verify
," explains Boubacar, one of the delegates present.
We need to find the 221st file.
So we get together to recount and check.
""
We cannot accuse without checking, so before going to see the persons in charge of the center, we all look together, all the political parties to be sure of us
, bid Judith who joined them.
If we are right, they will correct it.
We do this together because we must not think that we are necessarily against each other, we have overcome all that.
Politics do not prevent us from working together.
"
The delegates of the various presidential candidates recount to ensure that their result corresponds to that of the compilation center, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, November 23, 2020. © Paulina Zidi / RFI
Once the compilation is complete at the level of the municipal center, the results are printed, endorsed by the teams and representatives of the candidates, scanned and sent digitally to the CENI.
A physical part will also be sent under good escort.
But the rest is not for now.
If the presidential election is well advanced for the compilation center of the 1st arrondissement, we must now do the same work for the legislative elections.
And the task promises to be tough since for this constituency, there were almost 90 lists in contention.
“
We're not going to finish before the end of the afternoon, I think.
After me nothing will prevent me from going to sleep,
”sighs Rolane, who gets up, ready to resume her work.
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Elections in Burkina Faso
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