Electoral code changed ahead of presidential poll

Burkina Faso's parliament has voted to change the country's electoral code, which the opposition fears will clear the way for another term in office for President Blaise Compaore in elections scheduled for November 2005. These changes, which were passed through parliament late Tuesday, will see the electoral unit of Burkina Faso changed from the region of which there are 15, to the province, which number 45. The opposition says that this gives the government an unfair advantage as it will be impossible for them to field candidates and polling observers in all of the 45 electoral units. At the same time the government has said it will take a more active role in the organisation of the electoral process. The opposition see this as a ruse to meddle, with ballot boxes left unchecked. The changes are in effect a return to the proportional representation system that existed prior to reforms in 2002 and which also used the province as the electoral unit. That system was previously overturned to appease growing social turmoil following the death of Norbert Zongo, a journalist and government critic who was assassinated while investigating the death of a driver employed by the president's brother. Zongo’s death prompted a series of massive strikes and public demonstrations against Compaore’s government. The lack of freedom of speech and the suppression of the political opposition were major complaints. An independent internationally backed inquiry linked Zongo’s murder to the government. However, Zongo's killers have never been prosecuted and the case is an emotive subject to this day. Prior to the 2002 reforms, the Compoare’s Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) held 104 out of 11 parliamentary seats. However, following the 2002 reforms, the opposition was able to increase its representation in government substantially to 54 seats. Most of the opposition parties boycotted Tuesday’s vote. They claimed that the electoral law brought in 2002 could not be changed without their participation in the parliamentary meeting. "One cannot unilaterally undo what had been done by consensus," said Herman Yameogo, chairman of the National Union for the Democracy and Development (UNDD) and a key opposition figure in Burkina Faso. However, voting went ahead regardless. The change to the electoral code was adopted by 63 out of 111 MPs late on Tuesday after some minor opposition parties decided to align themselves with the government. The November 2005 polls will be Blaise Compaore's third successive presidential election. Compaore secured resounding victories in 1991 when he stood unopposed and again in 1998 when he secured 87% of the vote. Compaore came to power in a 1987 coup in which his predecessor and former ally Thomas Sankara was executed. In April 2000, the constitution was amended reducing the presidential term from seven to five years, enforceable as of 2005. That same amendment restricts the president to re-election only once, but does not take into account Compaore's earlier candidatures.