Burkina Faso held its parliamentary and presidential election on Sunday despite multiple threats of Islamist violence which prevented voting in hundreds of villages. President Roch Kabore seeks a second five-year term backed by his initiatives of providing free healthcare to children under 5 years old and providing infrastructure to villages in the desert areas of the country. However, there has been a surge in attacks linked to al Qaeda and ISIS in recent months, costing over 2,000 lives just this year. The president chose to proceed with the election, citing the importance of democracy and the need for all citizens to exercise their right to vote in spite of the violence which seeks to silence their voices. While voting proceeded without conflict in the capital and other larger cities, Eastern villages had to close polling locations due to the several threats directed at them. In total, the country estimates that, as of now, over 400,000 people (around 7% of the entire electorate) could not cast a ballot in fear of retaliation and attacks from Islamist extremist groups. President Kabore has received stiff opposition in the election from former finance minister and 2015-runner up, Zephirin Diabre, as well as Eddie Komboigo, the head of Blaise Campore, who was the president of Burkina Faso up until a revolution in 2014. Both opposition candidates have already called the election fraudulent, and seek to challenge the results by filing a formal complaint on Monday. There has been no evidence of fraud, and both candidates have not provided any evidence of their own. The election could head to a runoff if no candidate receives 50% of the vote required to win the presidency. All in, the country expects around 500,000 voters were disenfranchised and could not vote due to the threats of violence.
Trevor Mohrmann
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