IRIN focus on parliamentary elections

The 3,540 candidates competing for 111 parliamentary seats in Sunday's polls in Burkina Faso come from 30 parties, the largest number of political groupings to participate in elections in the West African nation. Opposition parties boycotted presidential elections in 1998 and municipal polls in 2000. This time around, however, they too are in the fray. The election had been scheduled for 28 April but the government postponed it to 5 May because of a low voter registration turnout. Some three million prospective voters finally registered and the chairman of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), Moussa Michel Tapsoba, hopes they will also turn out in large numbers on Sunday. "I am asking these three million voters who have braved all problems to register to show their will to contribute to the democratic process in our country by voting on Sunday," Tapsoba told IRIN. "It is a Sunday. I therefore ask them to make an effort to go and vote," added Tapsoba, a member of civil society who was appointed in 2001 to head the CENI for five years. The Sunday elections will mark the first time the single ballot will be used in elections in Burkina Faso. The measure was approved in 2001 by the National Assembly, where the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP - Congres pour la Democratie et le Progres) holds 101 of the 111 seats. Opposition parties had campaigned for years for the introduction of the single ballot. In previous elections, voters received ballots representing all the various parties or presidential candidates. They would then deposit the ballot corresponding to the candidate or party of their choice in the ballot box. "The single ballot is an asset because during the last polls voters were going back with the other ballots just to be given money for voting for one party or the other, but this time it's not possible," opposition politician Herman Yameogo said. "This is a key political reform that will help strengthen transparency," Yameogo, who heads the Alliance for Democracy and Progress/African Rally for Democracy (Alliance pour la Democratie et le Progres/Rassemblement africain pour la democratie), said. Conditions for participating in elections have never been so good in Burkina Faso, added Yameogo, whose party, with three seats, is one of the largest opposition parties in parliament. "There is today a better organisation for democracy," he said. Since this is the first time the single ballot is being used in the country, the CENI has asked those of its members who will be deployed to polling stations to help voters where necessary. The High Council for Information (CSI - Conseil superieur de l'information) this year adopted a strategy to enable all parties to have equitable participation in the media, especially on state radio and television. It got the government to provide money to the state-owned media to cover the activities of all political parties and to ban parties from paying for air time, a move meant to prevent resource-rich groups, especially the ruling CDP, from enjoying an unfair advantage. This is the first time three consecutive parliamentary elections have been held without the country being disrupted by a military overthrow. There were five coups since independence, the most recent being in 1987. Following a return to constitutional rule in 1990, parliamentary elections were held in 1992 and 1997. The many opposition parties hope to take advantage of the erosion of power of the CDP, which has had a majority in the National Assembly for 10 years. They hope, in particular, to capitalise on issues such as the 1998 killing of independent journalist Norbert Zongo, which sparked unprecedented sociopolitical unrest in the country. Last year President Blaise Compaore asked for forgiveness for all crimes committed on behalf of the state since independence from France in 1960 as a condition to ease tension in the country. "There is a longing for change in the country; everywhere populations want to see something different and this appears to be against the ruling party," Mamadou Kabre, a candidate of the Union for Renaissance/Sankarist Movement (UNIR/MS - Union pour la Renaissance/Mouvement sankariste), said. "Even if people are ready to forgive, they cannot forget all that happened as economic and political scandals and human rights abuses," added Kabore, whose party is named after Thomas Sankara, Compaore's immediate predecessor, killed in a 1987 coup Roch Marc Christian Kabore, secretary-general of the CDP, admits that "today the elections are taking place in a very new context". "I sincerely think our (CDP's) wish today is that we have a parliament that is much more balanced so that it can better represent the diverse opinions in the country," adds Kabore, seen by many as a moderate. "There is need for stability and for strengthening democracy in our country and we hope to have several parties in the next assembly." He said even though the CDP needed a majority to ensure implementation of Compaore's political programme, it was important "to have a relatively sizeable opposition representation to allow the expression of the various ideas that are developed in the country". International monitors from the Francophonie (the global organisation of French-speaking countries) and the European Elections Observatory will observe the polls alongside 2,000 national observers, the CENI has announced. The CENI has assigned 44,000 persons to the 10,902 polling stations to make sure the polls are conducted properly. The election price tag, according to the commission, is 6.5 billion CFA (just over US $8.6 million).