Kabore re-elected Burkina Faso president

#jaiyeorie Roch Kabore has been re-elected President of Burkina Faso by a sizeable margin following Thursday’s preliminary results in an uncertain election that prevented West African country troops from voting. Some analysts had expected closer competition on Sunday between Kaboren, who was elected in 2015, and his main rivals, who claimed he had failed to curb Islamist and ethnic violence that forced a million people to flee their homes in his first term. According to the results read by the Electoral Commission, Kabore won 57.87% of the vote. He needed over 50% to avoid the second round.

Zephirin Diabre and Eddie Komboigo, got 12.46% and 15.48%, respectively.

Kabore’s opponents have raised concerns about the validity of the vote count. But the electoral commission has dismissed those and an international observer mission gave the election a mostly clean bill of health.

The presidential and legislative elections took place on Sunday under high security tension, with Burkina Faso experiencing its darkest hours since independence, undermined by attacks by jihadist groups that have killed at least 1,200 people in five years.

The Burkinabe opposition said Monday that the double voting was “riddled with fraud” and threatened to “not accept results tainted by irregularities. It had already stated, on the eve of the election, that a “massive fraud” was in preparation.

The parties of the presidential majority called Tuesday for “respect for the results” of the election, considering that “the shortcomings noted, although regrettable, are not of a magnitude likely to significantly impact the outcome of the election”.

An opposition demonstration, initially scheduled for Wednesday morning in front of the center for the compilation and consolidation of results, was finally cancelled.

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