Burkinabe President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré must be officially invested, this Saturday, July 10, candidate of his party, the People's Movement for Progress (MPP), to run for a new presidential mandate in November, despite a mixed, undermined record by the security situation. His election in 2015 with 53.49% of the votes had raised great hopes for development and change in Burkina Faso.
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But in five years, under his presidency, this poor country in West Africa which was a haven of peace prized by tourists has become a red zone where jihadist attacks are almost daily, whole swathes of the country being inaccessible. These jihadist attacks, sometimes interspersed with inter-community conflicts, have left at least 1,100 people dead since 2015, and forced nearly a million people to flee their homes.
The executive has not lived up to the security challenge, say many observers. " The upsurge in attacks and the increase in violence is explained by the fact that there is no appropriate response to stop the threat, " said security expert Mahamoudou Savadogo. Despite everything, the MPP is united behind its leader, the only nomination contestant. There will not be a large gathering due to the coronavirus epidemic, but 3,000 MPP members will still meet at the Palais des sports in Ouagadougou.
A contested favorite
" It is President Kaboré that we will designate to be invested in the title of our party for the next presidential election, " said MPP executive secretary Lassané Savadogo. " It is the cross between the balance sheet and the program proposed by the candidate that determines the position of the party (...) He is the candidate who is best placed to carry the torch, " he adds.
To give the event some luster, the candidacy of Kaboré, 63, will also have to be supported by the alliance of the parties of the presidential majority (APMP), a grouping of around forty political parties. " Our objective is to get him elected in the first round and with a more comfortable score than in 2015. We want to do more than 60% ", projects Lassané Savadogo.
However, according to a June poll by the Center for Democratic Governance (CGD), one of the few opinion polls in Burkina, the president's rating is down, " 63% of the population " being " not satisfied with the actions of the president ”since coming to power. " The security challenges, the social revolt, the Covid-19 pandemic and other factors have negatively influenced the implementation of the program, " says Lassané Savadogo, " but that did not deviate from our fundamental objectives ," says he.
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Former close to President Blaise Compaoré, expelled after 27 years of power by a popular insurrection in October 2014, Kaboré should be opposed to many former members of the regime: ex-Prime Minister Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, Gilbert Noël Ouédraogo, leader of a party allied with Compaoré, or Eddie Komboïgo, the president of the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP), the ex-party of Compaoré, excluded from the 2015 election.
Other major candidates include opposition leader Zéphirin Diabré, runner-up to the 2015 presidential election, Tahirou Barry, a minister who resigned from the first government in Kaboré, or the lawyer Abdoulaye Soma. " Despite the mixed results of President Kaboré who has succeeded in some actions, notably the development of road infrastructure, he remains a favorite in the face of an opposition that is struggling to unite, " maintains political analyst Drissa Traore, who also points out " the situation security (which) has deteriorated considerably ”.
“ 14 provinces, distributed in the six regions of the country, are under state of emergency. Holding elections in these attacked areas is hypothetical. These populations are more concerned with saving their lives, ”he said. According to the Democratic Observatory for Human Rights (ODDH), between April 2015 and May 2020, armed jihadist groups carried out " at least 580 attacks " targeting law enforcement officials, but also civilians and in particular schools, including more than 2,000 have closed.
