Burkina Faso to dissolve its electoral commission

On July 16th, the government of the Burkinabe military regime adopted a bill to dissolve the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), as reported by Le Monde on July 17th.

CENI has been dubbed by the Council of Ministers as “budget-eating” and susceptible to “foreign influences”, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Created in 1998 and implemented in 2001, the Commission claims to be an “independent” structure responsible for organizing elections since the return of a multi-party system in 1991. It is made up of 15 commissioners from various political parties and civil society, who take an oath before the Constitutional Council.

Elections were supposed to be held in July 2024, but the junta, which took power by a coup in September 2022, finally extended its transition by five years.

“Subsidized by nearly half a billion CFA francs (about 760,000 euros) a year, the existence of this structure today proves to be totally inconsistent with the provisions of the transition charter (which provides a framework for the military transition), further to eating up the budget”, said the Minister of Territorial Administration, Emile Zerbo, on July 16th.

Mr. Zerbo continued that a bill titled, ”dissolution of the Independent National Electoral Commission” had been adopted in the Council of Ministers. “The bill also enshrines the devolution of electoral powers to the ministry responsible for territorial administration”.

Burkina Faso is currently ruled by a military regime that makes sovereignty its priority. At its head is Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power in September 2022 by a coup d’état. 

This was the second coup d’état in 8 months, the first being in January 2022. It was this first coup that triggered a political transition, which was initially alleged to end in July 2024.

Yet in May 2024, the junta decided to extend this five-year transition period, allowing Ibrahim Traoré to remain at the head of the country. Burkina Faso has been weakened by ongoing jihadist violence for almost ten years, resulting in thousands killed.

According to the transition charter, Captain Traoré will be able to run in the “presidential, legislative, and municipal elections”, which, in principal, must be held at the end of these five years.

The dissolution of CENI comes in the wake of warnings by Human Rights Watch that accuse the government of mass killings. Such reports of violence, along with measures of mandatory patriotic training being introduced in schools, and deepening ties with Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, point to a loss of democracy in Burkina Faso.

Le Monde, Maghrebi.org