Political History
In 1990, the Popular Front held its first National Congress, which formed a committee to draft a national constitution. The constitution was approved by referendum in 1991. In 1992, Blaise Compaoré was elected president, running unopposed after the opposition boycotted the election because of Compaoré's refusal to accede to demands of the opposition such as a sovereign National Conference to set modalities. The opposition did participate in the following year's legislative elections, in which the ODP/MT won a majority of seats.
The government of the Fourth Republic includes a strong presidency, a prime minister, a Council of Ministers presided over by the president, a two-chamber National Assembly, and the judiciary. The legislature and judiciary are independent but remain susceptible to outside influence.
In 1995, Burkina held its first multiparty municipal elections since independence. With minor exceptions, balloting was considered free and fair by the local human rights organizations which monitored the contest. The president's ODP/MT won over 1,100 of some 1,700 councillor seats being contested.
In February 1996, the ruling ODP/MT merged with several small opposition parties to form the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP). This effectively co-opted much of what little viable opposition to Compaoré existed. The remaining opposition parties regrouped in preparation for 1997 legislative elections and the 1998 presidential election. The 1997 legislative elections, which international observers pronounced to be substantially free, fair, and transparent, resulted in a large CDP majority—101 to 111 seats.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Burkina Faso
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or history:
“If all political power be derived only from Adam, and be to descend only to his successive heirs, by the ordinance of God and divine institution, this is a right antecedent and paramount to all government; and therefore the positive laws of men cannot determine that, which is itself the foundation of all law and government, and is to receive its rule only from the law of God and nature.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)
“No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)