Blaise Compaoré is a Burkinabé-Ivorian former politician who served as the second president of Burkina Faso from 1987 to 2014. He was a close associate of the first president, Thomas Sankara, during the 1980s and in October 1987 he led a coup d'état during which Sankara was killed. Subsequently, he introduced a policy of 'rectification', overturning the leftist and Third Worldist policies pursued by Sankara. He won elections in 1991, 1998, 2005, and 2010, in what were considered unfair circumstances. His attempt to amend the constitution to extend his 27-year term caused the 2014 Burkinabé uprising. On 31 October 2014, Compaoré resigned, whereupon he fled to the Ivory Coast. In April 2022, he was found guilty by a special military tribunal of complicity in Sankara’s murder. He is also the longest-serving president of Burkina Faso.
Union of Burkinabè Communists was a communist party in Burkina Faso. UCB was founded in August 1984 by the Group for the Unity of Marxists-Leninists, the Marxist-Leninist Group and one other group.
The Sankarist Pan-African Convention was a political party in Burkina Faso. CPS was formed in 2000, through the merger of the Burkinabè Socialist Bloc, Party of United Social Democracy and a fraction of the Social Forces Front.
The Union for Rebirth / Sankarist Party was a political party in Burkina Faso.
Burkinabé Socialist Bloc was a Sankarist political party in Burkina Faso. BSB was founded in December 1990 by Nongma Ernest Ouédraogo. Ouédraogo became the general secretary of BSB. Ouédraogo had been released from jail the previous year. He had served as Minister of Security under Sankara.
Presidential elections were held in Burkina Faso on 13 November 2005. Incumbent president Blaise Compaoré was re-elected with around 80% of the vote.
Bénéwendé Stanislas Sankara is a Burkinabé politician who served as the President of the Union for Rebirth / Sankarist Party (UNIR/PS) party throughout its entire existence. From 2021 to 2023, he served as President of the newly formed Union for Rebirth / Patriotic Sankarist Movement (UNIR/MPS).
Convergence for Social Democracy is a Sankarist political party in Burkina Faso. It was founded in December 2002 as split from the Union of Independent Democrats and Progressives. It is led by Djéjouma Sanon.
Change 2005 was a political alliance in Burkina Faso, founded to contest the presidential election in 2005. The incumbent, Blaise Compaore, was standing for a third term and was expected to win despite claims that another term in office would be unconstitutional. He was re-elected with 80.35% of the votes.
The February 14 Group is a political alliance in Burkina Faso. It was founded in February 1997 and consists of the following parties.
The Dialogue of the Burkinabé Opposition was a political alliance in Burkina Faso (former Upper Volta. It was founded in January 2002 by the following political parties:
Articles related to Burkina Faso include:
Valère Dieudonné Somé was a politician and scholar from Burkina Faso. Somé was the leader of the Union of Communist Struggles - Reconstructed (ULC-R) during the 1980s. He was an Anthropo-Economist, and headed research at the INSS-CNRST.
Parliamentary elections were held in Burkina Faso on 2 December 2012. They were the first elections held since the National Assembly dissolved the National Electoral Commission in 2011, following fraud allegations concerning the 2010 presidential elections. Municipal elections for over 18,000 councillors were held simultaneously. The elections were held amidst a period of political uncertainty, following protests against President Blaise Compaore's regime.
Sankarism is a term sometimes applied to denote a left-wing ideological trend within the politics of Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa, as well as the policies of the military government led by Captain Thomas Sankara. Sankara came to power in what was then the Republic of Upper Volta in a popularly supported 1983 military coup, and ruled until his assassination in a coup led by Blaise Compaoré in 1987.
Le Balai Citoyen, is a political grassroots movement in Burkina Faso, which was part of the opposition against President Blaise Compaoré. It was co-founded by two musicians, reggae artist Sams’K Le Jah and rapper Serge Bambara ('Smockey') in the Summer of 2013. They organized several protests in early 2014, for example hosting a joint rally with the newly formed Movement of People for Progress, filling a 35,000-capacity sports stadium to its rafters.
Serge Bambara is a hip hop artist, actor and political activist from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Born in what was then the Republic of Upper Volta, the son of a Bissa father and a French mother, he moved to France to study in 1991. In 1999 he signed a contract with EMI and launched a first single, featuring the singer Lââm. In 2001 he moved back to Burkina Faso and started the studio Abazon. He has released the albums Epitaphe, Zamana, Code noir and Cravate Costards et Pourriture, and cooperated with the prominent Senegalese rapper Didier Awadi.
Karim Sama, more commonly known by his stage name Sams'K Le Jah, is a reggae musician, radio host and political activist from Burkina Faso. He was born in the neighbouring Ivory Coast, before coming to Burkina Faso in 1985. During his teens he was a member of the Pioneers of the Revolution, a youth movement created by Captain Thomas Sankara, a radical left-wing revolutionary who came to power in 1983 military coup. A member of the Rastafari movement as well as a Sankarist, he upholds both Sankara and Haile Selassie.
