Burkina Faso: Candidates begin campaign for legislative elections

Parties and candidates running for the 28 November parliamentary elections in Burkina Faso, are busy engaged in the campaign, barely 24 hours following its launch, APA learns Monday in the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou.

Thus, Burkina Faso is now living to the rhythm of the twin elections (presidential and legislative). Indeed, after the launch of the campaign for the presidential election on 8 November, it was the turn of the legislative candidates to join the dance, as from last Sunday.

The note-worthy change is the coming into play of new parties; in addition to the other ten parties which were already in the campaign (14 candidates are running for the presidency, including four independents).

Among the major parties which are campaigning for the legislative elections are the Congress for Democracy and Progress, former ruling party, whose presidential candidate was unsuccessful in the nominations.

The other big party is the Alliance for Democracy and Federation-African Democratic Rally (ADF/RDA) of Mr. Gilbert Noël Ouedraogo whose candidacy for president was also rejected.

These two parties and many others such as the Faso New alliance (NAFA) and the Union for a new Burkina (UBN), set their sights on the legislative elections, according to their senior officials.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which is in charge of organizing the elections said it has registered 6,944 candidates for the 127 available positions in the country’s National Assembly.

These candidates, among whom there are, according to figures from the INEC, 4,870 men and 2,074 women, are from 81 political parties and 19 independent groups.

Among the legislative candidates, some are also participating in the presidential election as party leaders.

This is the case, for instance, of Saran Sereme, president of the Party for Development and Change (PDC), Ablasse Ouedraogo, president of the Faso Differently and Kanazoe Adama, President of the Youth Alliance for Independence and Republic (AJIR).

MPs who will be elected in the 29 November twin polls, will replace those of the National Transitional Council (NTC), set up in November 2014, after the popular uprising that caused the fall of Blaise Compaore and the dissolution of the former National Assembly.

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