As expected, Blaise Compaoré, the incumbent president of Burkina Faso who has been in power since 1987, has been declared winner of the presidential election in the first round, with close to 81 percent of the vote.

This was announced to state and other local and international media by the country’s election commission.

Compaoré was re-elected with about 1.3 million votes, according to statistics gathered from across the country. This translates to 80,98 percent of votes cast, a slight improvement over the 80,35 percent he won in the 2005 election.

Of his two main opponents, Hama Arba Diallo secured 7,96 percent, and Bénéwendé Stanislas Sankara 5,52 percent. Sankara improved slightly on his 2005 showing, when he drew 4,88 percent of the vote.

Other results show that the former military chief in the Thomas Sankara era (1983-1987), Boukary Kaboré, popularly known as “le lion” (the Lion), took 2,15 percent; the independent Maxime Kaboré 1,88 percent; Pargui Emile Paré 0,84 percent; and François Ouampoussogo Kaboré 0,66 percent.

The newspaper, Sidwaya, reported that 53 percent of the 3.2 million registered voters actually took part in the elections, against 57.66 percent in 2005.

Excerpted and translated by Michael Tantoh from  a report in Le Potentiel.