Burkina Faso: after his large victory, President Kaboré faced with the security challenge

The party of President Marc Roch Christian Kaboré, reelected for a second term in Burkina Faso, did not obtain a legislative majority in the double presidential and legislative elections of November 22, 2020 and will have to negotiate with its allies.

Issouf SANOGO AFP / File

Text by: Tirthankar Chanda Follow

8 min

Reelected with 57.87% of the vote according to the provisional results, the outgoing president of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, begins his second term.

The deterioration of the political and security situation on the ground risks complicating the presidential candidate's campaign promise to build “a better Burkina Faso for all the populations”.

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“ 

 It means " 

 " in Swahili.

This formula, which we heard a lot during the recent electoral meetings of the Movement of the People for Progress (MPP), the party in power in Burkina Faso for five years, finally brought luck to the outgoing president, who was a candidate for his own succession. . 

Everything is indeed going well for Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, who

on November 22 in the first round.

With 57.87%, he even managed to improve his score compared to the 2015 poll when he obtained 53% of the vote.

The Constitutional Council has yet to proclaim the final results.

For the presidential camp, this score is not a surprise.

Most officials were confident that the victory would be " 

 ".

Others admitted that they were somewhat relieved.

" 

 ", admitted a close friend of the leader. of State.

Faced with the deterioration of the security situation in the country, following recurring jihadist attacks since 2015, the Burkinabè finally made the choice of continuity: “ 

 ”voters explained Sunday, November 22, the day of the vote.

However, the threat is real, to the point that on election day 2,000 polling stations did not open their doors, preventing more than half a million duly registered voters from exercising their right to vote. 

Despite the clear victory of his foal, is everything really going well for the presidential clan?

Not really, since according to the provisional results of the legislative elections, the elected president will not have the absolute majority in the National Assembly that he hoped for.

The MPP, with its 56 deputies, will have to join forces with other parties to govern the country, as it did in the previous legislature.

Before the announcement of the provisional results, however, the political climate in Ouagadougou became tense, following in particular the controversies over the method of compilation in the municipal centers.

President Kaboré played appeasement and extended his hand to the opposition, with which he promised to work in " 

 ".

► To read also: Presidential in Burkina Faso: reelected, President Kaboré intends to advocate appeasement

A man from the seraglio

Man of the seraglio, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré has frequented the aisles of power for almost forty years.

Son of Charles Bila Kaboré who was minister in Ouagadougou in the first governments after the independence of Burkina Faso, the man comes from the majority Mossi ethnic group, but he is also a practicing Catholic in a predominantly Muslim country.

Returning to Burkina Faso after studying in France to become an economist, the elected president made his debut in politics in the 1980s, alongside Thomas Sankara.

Under 30 at the time, he joined the revolutionary Sankarist regime as Managing Director of the International Bank of Burkina Faso. 

Thomas Sankara was assassinated in 1987. His ideological affinities with the late revolutionary did not prevent the young banker from teaming up with Blaise Compaoré, the friend, the killer and the successor of Sankara.

He entered the circle of power first as Minister, then as President of the Assembly, and finally as Prime Minister.

A true baron of the regime, he will also occupy for a time the strategic position of President of the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP), the party in power.

As Prime Minister of Burkina, between 1994 and 1996, he had to manage the political turmoil of the devaluation of the CFA franc and its harmful effects on economic life.

The exercise of these different positions of responsibility has enabled him to acquire his stature as a statesman and his image as a man who listens. 

► To read also, the webdoc of RFI: Who had Sankara killed?

Kaboré has long been considered the “

 ”

dolphin 

.

This was before he slammed the door of the CDP to protest against the modification of the Constitution by Compaoré in order to last forever at the head of the country.

With two other very important actors in political life, Salif Diallo, the strategist, and Simon Compaoré, the mayor of the capital, he then founded his own party, the Movement for Progress for the People (MPP). 

In October 2014,

by a popular uprising.

At the end of an eventful transition period which will last a year, Roch Marc Kaboré is elected president of Burkina in the first truly democratic presidential election.

After twenty-seven years of autocratic power marked by nepotism and the control of the opposition, the election in 2015 of Kaboré, considered a moderate man and known for his social sensitivity, aroused great hopes in the " 

 ”. 

Security versus development

However, this is a mixed record to say the least.

At the end of Roch Kaboré's first five-year term, certain regions of Burkina Faso sank into chaos as a result of recurrent attacks by jihadist groups, some affiliated with Al-Qaeda, others with the Islamic State organization.

Sometimes these attacks are followed by community conflicts, causing a spiral of violence that the police have been unable to contain.

Since 2015, jihadist attacks have killed some 1,200 people and forced one million people, or one in 20, from their homes.

During the election campaign, however, President Kaboré attempted to defend the results of his five-year term.

Its teams have constantly recalled the achievements of the government.

These range from strengthening public health policy (free healthcare for women and children under 5) to improving economic governance (modernization of tax administration, access to credit), including through the construction of infrastructures (improvement of the drinking water supply, establishment of new road infrastructures, better mobile phone and internet coverage) and the bet on education (construction of scientific high schools).

This progress is duly documented in the latest report from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which has just been published. 

This record is unfortunately undermined by the descent into secure hell in Burkina Faso in recent years.

For the internally displaced who congregate in the big cities, the socio-economic achievements driven by the outgoing president seem totally out of sync with their experiences.

And the responsibility or not of the Head of State in the degraded security situation is debated in the country.

" 

 ”Rinaldo Depagne of the International Crisis Group (ICG) told AFP. 

" 

 " asked Zéphirin Diabré, an unsuccessful presidential candidate and one of the heavyweights of the opposition.

Taxed by his detractors of immobility in the face of the deterioration of the security crisis, the elected president promised more results during his second term in the fight against jihadist groups, without however agreeing to dialogue with them, as requested by the opposition leaders.

Anyway, there is in President Kaboré, tells his entourage, an awareness at the dawn of the new five-year term of the need to reverse the trend in the fight against terrorism, so that social gains and economic are not tarnished by insecurity.

This is undoubtedly the lesson of the tours carried out by the presidential candidate in the thirteen regions of the country as part of the electoral campaign.

By the way, how do you say in the local language “ 

 "  

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• Burkina Faso

• Elections in Burkina Faso

• Roch Marc Christian Kaboré

• Blaise Compaore

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