Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of 274,200 km2 (105,900 sq mi), bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and the Ivory Coast to the southwest. As of 2021, the country had an estimated population of 20,321,378. Previously called Republic of Upper Volta (1958–1984), it was renamed Burkina Faso by President Thomas Sankara. Its citizens are known as Burkinabè, and its capital and largest city is Ouagadougou. Its name is often translated into English as the "Land of Honest Men".
The Politics of Burkina Faso takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President of Burkina Faso is the head of state. Executive power is exercised by both the President and the Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The party system was dominated by the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) until 2014. Burkina Faso's CDP fell victim to a series of demonstrations and riots, to alter the constitution and extend the former president's term in office - referred to as the 2014 Burkinabé uprising. The military then declared itself to be in power and the state shifted to an electoral autocracy. Burkina Faso lacks the foundation that would support a democracy, with its current transition to a military regime, but not all hope is lost. After an internal coup ousted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the previous military head of state, a new transitional charter was adopted, naming Captain Ibrahim Traoré as president. Mr. Damiba's progressional failures on the state's security front “swung a majority of domestic opinion in favour of the MPSR”. Mr. Traoré pledged a major reinforcement of armed forces to strengthen frontline units and recruited over 3,000 more troops. As the violence becomes so entrenched, it is nonetheless expected that the security situation will remain dire in the medium term. “However, we expect that elections will still be held in 2024 as part of the army's plan to stabilise the security situation by boosting counter-terrorism operations.”
The history of Burkina Faso includes the history of various kingdoms within the country, such as the Mossi kingdoms, as well as the later French colonisation of the territory and its independence as the Republic of Upper Volta in 1960.
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.
The Congress for Democracy and Progress was the ruling party in Burkina Faso from 1996 until the overthrow of Blaise Compaoré in 2014.
Burkina Faso elects on the national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly has 127 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional representation. Burkina Faso has held democratic elections since 1965. The history of elections has been slightly inconsistent, with the government dynamically changing at the hands of various coups, constitutional changes, and boycotts from various political parties. In 2015, the country experienced its first peaceful and fair election ever. Corruption plagued Burkina Faso's presidential elections for 50 years, but following a coup overthrowing Blaise Compaoré, the nation has seen more democratic and less corrupt electoral processes. Terrorism has played a substantial role in Burkina Faso's elections, with candidates running on the promise to keep the nation safe from the rise of Islamic jihadism they experienced in the 2010s. Historically, a few different parties have held power in Burkina. The Organization for Popular Democracy – Labour Movement was former president Compaoré's party affiliation, and thus they held power from 1987 to 2014. His party took power through a coup, and in 2014 also lost their control when the Regiment of Presidential Security overthrew the government.
Roch Marc Christian Kaboré is a Burkinabé banker and politician who served as the President of Burkina Faso from 2015 until he was deposed in 2022. He was the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso between 1994 and 1996 and President of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso from 2002 to 2012. Kaboré was also president of the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) until his departure from the party in 2014. He founded the People's Movement for Progress party that same year.
March 2000 passed without presidential action. New legislative elections were ultimately rescheduled for October 2001. Because of funding problems and disagreements between the government and opposition, the elections were again delayed, this time until March 2002.
Simon Compaoré is a Burkinabé politician who served as Mayor of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, from 1995 to 2012. He was a prominent member of the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP), but he left the CDP and participated in the formation of the opposition People's Movement for Progress (MPP) in 2014. Following the MPP's victory in the 2015 election, he was appointed to the government. He has served as Minister of State for Internal Security since January 2016, and he also held the ministerial portfolio for territorial administration from January 2016 to February 2017.
Salif Diallo was a Burkinabé politician who was President of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso from 2015 to 2017. He was a key associate of President Blaise Compaoré from the 1980s to the 2000s, serving in various posts during that period, including as Director of the Cabinet of the President from 1987 to 1989, Minister of Environment and Water from 1995 to 1999, and Minister of Agriculture from 2000 to 2008. He was appointed as Burkina Faso's Ambassador to Austria later in 2008. He also served as Vice-President of the Congress for Democracy and Progress, the ruling party.
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.
General elections were held in Burkina Faso on 29 November 2015. The elections were the first national elections in the country since the 2014 Burkinabé uprising and the departure of President Blaise Compaoré, who had ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years. The party of former President Compaoré, the Congress for Democracy and Progress, was banned from presenting a presidential candidate in the presidential elections but was still able to participate in the parliamentary election.
The 2014 Burkina Faso uprising was a series of demonstrations and riots in Burkina Faso in October 2014 that quickly spread to multiple cities. They began in response to attempts at changing the constitution to allow President Blaise Compaoré to run again and extend his 27 years in office. Pressure for political change came from civil society and in particular from the country's youth. Following a tumultuous day on 30 October, which included the involvement of former Defence Minister Kouamé Lougué and the burning of the National Assembly and other government buildings as well as the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress party's headquarters, Compaoré dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency before eventually fleeing to Côte d'Ivoire with the support of President Alassane Ouattara.
The Senate is Burkina Faso's uncreated legislative upper chamber under the amended Constitution of Burkina Faso. The original upper house was abolished in 2002, making the legislature unicameral. The upper house was to have been restored under the name "Senate" in the June 2012 constitutional amendments. This revision was never executed due to an extended and unresolved political confrontation over the Senate's establishment, which left the country effectively with a unicameral legislature as of the October 2014 constitutional crisis.
Yacouba Isaac Zida is a Burkinabé military officer who briefly served as Burkina Faso's acting head of state in November 2014. He took power in the aftermath of the 2014 Burkinabé uprising, sidelining a more senior officer, Honoré Nabéré Traoré. A few weeks later, a civilian, Michel Kafando, was chosen to replace Zida as transitional head of state; Kafando then appointed Zida as Prime Minister on 19 November 2014.
The Independent Party of Burkina was a political party in Burkina Faso. In 2014 Maxime Kaboré was the chairman of the party.
The Organisation for Democracy and Labour is a political party in Burkina Faso. The party supported the government of Blaise Compaoré. As of 2013 Moïse Sawadogo was the chairman of the party. The slogan of the party is 'Democracy - Work - Justice'.
The People's Movement for Progress is a political party in Burkina Faso that was founded on 25 January 2014 by former Congress for Democracy and Progress member Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. Kaboré ran as the party's presidential candidate in the 2015 general election and was elected in the first round of voting; the MPP also won a plurality of seats in the National Assembly of Burkina Faso. It is a full member of the Progressive Alliance and Socialist International. On January 24, 2022, Kaboré was deposed as Burkina Faso President and arrested following a military coup.
New Era for Democracy is a political party in Burkina Faso.
General elections were held in Burkina Faso on 22 November 2020 to elect the President and National Assembly. In the presidential elections, incumbent president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of the People's Movement for Progress was re-elected in the first round with 57.7% of the vote, avoiding the need for second round. The main campaign focus of the major presidential candidates was the growing insecurity in the country with the rise in terrorism and ethnic violence.
