Burkina Faso votes to choose first new leader in decades

Burkina Faso voted yesterday in an election to choose the country's first new president in decades, a year after longtime leader Blaise Compaore was toppled in a popular uprising in which demonstrators faced down the security forces.

The vote represents a turning point for a West African nation which, for most of its history since independence from France in 1960, has been ruled by leaders who came to power in coups.

Compaore seized power by that route and ruled for 27 years. He was ousted in October 2014 when demonstrators protested against his attempt to change the constitution to extend his tenure.

People formed long lines at polling stations to vote for the president to serve for a five-year term and deputies for the National Assembly. Polls closed at 6pm. A second round will be held if no candidate secures a majority.

Analysts say only two of the 14 presidential candidates stand a real chance of winning. One is Roch Marc Kabore, prime minister and president of the National Assembly under Compaore. The other is Zéphirin Diabré, who was minister of finance in the 1990s before stepping down to start an opposition party.

Kabore heads the Movement of People for Progress (MPP), made up of disaffected allies of Compaore who left the party months before he stood down. Diabré fronts the Union for Progress and Change (UPC), which was the formal opposition.

The election was pushed back from October 11th because of an abortive coup in September by members of the elite presidential guard, in which transitional President Michel Kafando and his prime minister were taken hostage. – Reuters