November Burkina Faso Presidential Election Results

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People stand in front of a campaign poster for Burkina Faso presidential candidate Roch Marc Kabore in Ouagadougou. Photograph: Joe Penney/Reuters
Before I started falling behind on my "Daily Journal," I made quite a few posts on the Burkina Faso election, which was originally to be held in October, but delayed by a military coup, which didn't last long.  The election was rescheduled for November, and was won in the first round by Roch Marc Kabore with 53% of the vote.

Kabore was favored to win since last summer. Under former president Blaise Compaore, who ruled from 1987-2014, Kabore had a number of top posts, including prime minister (1994-1996), president of the National Assembly (2002-2012), and president of Compaore's ruling party, Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP).

In January 2014, Kabore was among those who opposed the attempted amendment to the constitution to enable Compaore to run for a 3rd term. Kabore resigned from the CDP and started his own party, the People's Movement for Progress (MPP).

In second place in the November election, with 30% of the vote, was former finance minister Zephirin Diabre, the candidate for the CDP's main opposition party, the Union for Progress and Change (UPC). UPC won 19 (of 127) seats in the 2012 legislative elections, positioning it as the 3rd largest party after CDP (which at the time still had Kabore in its top leadership) and CDP's ally, ADF-RDA.

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