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| Burkina Faso, a Year After Uprising, Will Head to Polls | Burkina Faso, a Year After Uprising, Will Head to Polls |
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| OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Voters in Burkina Faso will go to the polls on Sunday in the first national elections since a popular uprising last year forced out the country’s longtime president, Blaise Compaoré, after he tried to extend his 27-year rule. | |
| About 5,000 observers will fan out across the landlocked West African country to guard against electoral irregularities. Heavy turnout is expected. | About 5,000 observers will fan out across the landlocked West African country to guard against electoral irregularities. Heavy turnout is expected. |
| “This is the first truly pluralistic and competitive presidential election since independence from France in 1960,” said Benoît Beucher, a scholar of Burkina Faso at the Free University of Brussels. “The mobilization of ordinary Burkinabe people is being followed closely by many observers. It’s a source of hope that constituencies that have not traditionally been in power since independence — political parties, unions, the military — can build a democratic framework in a country that has almost never known it.” | “This is the first truly pluralistic and competitive presidential election since independence from France in 1960,” said Benoît Beucher, a scholar of Burkina Faso at the Free University of Brussels. “The mobilization of ordinary Burkinabe people is being followed closely by many observers. It’s a source of hope that constituencies that have not traditionally been in power since independence — political parties, unions, the military — can build a democratic framework in a country that has almost never known it.” |
| The elections, for both the presidency and the Parliament, had been scheduled for Oct. 11 but were called off after officers of the elite Presidential Security Regiment that had guarded Mr. Compaoré staged a coup on Sept. 16. They held the leaders of the interim government hostage, but the coup fell apart a week later after it was denounced by international leaders and Burkinabe protesters and unions, which staged a general strike. Automatic gunfire from members of the regiment killed 15 unarmed protesters and bystanders and injured more than 200, including a pregnant woman who was shot in the stomach and later delivered a baby with a scar from a bullet wound. | The elections, for both the presidency and the Parliament, had been scheduled for Oct. 11 but were called off after officers of the elite Presidential Security Regiment that had guarded Mr. Compaoré staged a coup on Sept. 16. They held the leaders of the interim government hostage, but the coup fell apart a week later after it was denounced by international leaders and Burkinabe protesters and unions, which staged a general strike. Automatic gunfire from members of the regiment killed 15 unarmed protesters and bystanders and injured more than 200, including a pregnant woman who was shot in the stomach and later delivered a baby with a scar from a bullet wound. |
| A commission appointed to investigate the coup put the blame squarely on Brig. Gen. Gilbert Diendéré, the commander of the Presidential Security Regiment, known by its French initials, R.S.P., which has since been disbanded. He helped plan the coup and was the first person informed after members of his regiment stormed a cabinet meeting on Sept. 16 and seized the interim president, Michel Kafando, and the prime minister, Yacouba Isaac Zida, according to the report. The New York Times obtained a copy of the report, which was dated Nov. 10 and presented to Mr. Zida, but has not been made public. | |
| In addition to officers from his regiment, General Diendéré received support from members of the Republican Front, a collection of political parties that supported a constitutional amendment that would have allowed Mr. Compaoré to run for a fifth term, as well as 160 million Central African francs (around $259,000) from unspecified foreign sources, the report said. | In addition to officers from his regiment, General Diendéré received support from members of the Republican Front, a collection of political parties that supported a constitutional amendment that would have allowed Mr. Compaoré to run for a fifth term, as well as 160 million Central African francs (around $259,000) from unspecified foreign sources, the report said. |
| A lawyer, Simplice G. Poda, led the eight-member commission, which interviewed 127 people; its vice president was Lt. Col. Bachirou Farta, a soldier who was loyal to the transitional government and is now in charge of internal security. | A lawyer, Simplice G. Poda, led the eight-member commission, which interviewed 127 people; its vice president was Lt. Col. Bachirou Farta, a soldier who was loyal to the transitional government and is now in charge of internal security. |
| The report found that military officers generally opposed the coup, but that they failed to categorically challenge it at the beginning, and that the coup collapsed only after junior military officers took the initiative to retake the capital. | The report found that military officers generally opposed the coup, but that they failed to categorically challenge it at the beginning, and that the coup collapsed only after junior military officers took the initiative to retake the capital. |
| “Consultations were begun and maintained between units from different garrisons and led to a movement of military forces that converged on Ouagadougou, in order to force the R.S.P. to put down its arms and submit itself to the military hierarchy,” the report found, adding, “If the military hierarchy had been able to take unequivocal measures in the first moments, aligned with its rejection of the coup, events certainly would not have played out the way they did.” | “Consultations were begun and maintained between units from different garrisons and led to a movement of military forces that converged on Ouagadougou, in order to force the R.S.P. to put down its arms and submit itself to the military hierarchy,” the report found, adding, “If the military hierarchy had been able to take unequivocal measures in the first moments, aligned with its rejection of the coup, events certainly would not have played out the way they did.” |
| The report found that a former foreign minister, Djibril Y. Bassolé, helped arrange financing and foreign support for the plot. General Diendéré and Mr. Bassolé are both in detention; the general has apologized for his involvement in the coup, while Mr. Bassolé has maintained his innocence. | The report found that a former foreign minister, Djibril Y. Bassolé, helped arrange financing and foreign support for the plot. General Diendéré and Mr. Bassolé are both in detention; the general has apologized for his involvement in the coup, while Mr. Bassolé has maintained his innocence. |
| As in other political transitions, the extent to which members of the former leadership will be allowed to share power remains a major challenge in Burkina Faso. Members of the former governing party, Mr. Compaoré’s Congress for Democracy and Progress, were banned from running for president, although they are taking part in the parliamentary elections. The report found that several of the party’s members had been complicit in the coup, but that there was insufficient evidence to hold one of its leaders, Eddie Komboïgo, responsible. | As in other political transitions, the extent to which members of the former leadership will be allowed to share power remains a major challenge in Burkina Faso. Members of the former governing party, Mr. Compaoré’s Congress for Democracy and Progress, were banned from running for president, although they are taking part in the parliamentary elections. The report found that several of the party’s members had been complicit in the coup, but that there was insufficient evidence to hold one of its leaders, Eddie Komboïgo, responsible. |
| Fourteen candidates are vying for the presidency. The most prominent are Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, a former prime minister who split from Mr. Compaoré last year, before the uprising; Zéphirin Diabré, a businessman and former official with the United Nations Development Program; Bénéwendé Stanislas Sankara, an acolyte of Thomas Sankara (no relation), the Marxist former soldier who as president, from 1983 to 1987, changed the country’s name from Upper Volta; and a lawyer, Tahirou Barry. |