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Bloomberg
Voting began in Burkina Faso, where President Roch Marc Christian Kabore has spent most of his five years in office fighting an insurgency that’s forced a million people to flee their homes. He’s likely to win a second term as the insecurity disrupts voting in opposition strongholds.
Large swathes of the West African gold producer have
become ungovernable since extremists based in Mali expanded their reach across the border four years ago. This year, Burkina Faso recorded an unprecedented surge in attacks, both by extremists affiliated with al-Qaeda and IS and rural militias. Rights groups say that abuse of civilians by security forces is also on the rise.
At least 2,500 people have been killed in 2020, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. The United Nations estimates that three million people out of a population of 21 million need food aid.
Yet the government was determined to press ahead with the vote. In August, parliament approved a change to the electoral code that invokes “extraordinary circumstances,†allowing for presidential and legislative elections even if many polling stations can’t open. More than 400,000 displaced people weren’t able to get a voter card or register to vote.
The electoral commission has said that security concerns barred it from registering voters in 17% of all districts and villages nationwide.
“By allowing the elections to go ahead, authorities in fact acknowledge that part of the country is out of control,†said Mahamadou Sawadogo, a security consultant who researches the insurgency.
The attacks have also affected campaigning. Last week, Kabore, 63, temporarily halted his campaign when 14 government soldiers were killed in an
ambush. A raid targeting a lawmaker rallying support in northern Burkina Faso killed the driver of his car.