Ecowas Declares As Satisfactory Conduct of Presidential Elections in Burkina Faso

23 November 2010
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso — The ECOWAS Observer Mission to the 21st November 2010 Presidential election in Burkina Faso has characterized the election as peaceful, free, credible and transparent.

In a preliminary statement read by the leader of the mission, former Togolese Prime Minister, Mr. Koffi Sama at a press conference on Monday, 22nd November 2010 in Ouagadougou, the mission observed that the campaigns were conducted in a peaceful environment and expressed satisfaction "with the various efforts undertaken by Burkina Faso authorities and by all the stakeholders to secure a good electoral process in a peaceful environment". Mr. Sama noted some weaknesses such as the non-compliance with the information on the voter's card with regard to the relevant provisions of the Electoral Code, difficulties with the distribution of voter's cards and the problems relating to inaccurate information on polling stations as well as the low rate of registration compared to the country's population.

In spite of these, he stated that the Mission had observed no major irregularity that could affect the freedom, credibility and transparency of the election. While lauding the sense of responsibility and civility of the Burkinabe voters throughout the electoral process, Mr. Sama urged them to continue in the same spirit until the declaration of both the provisional and final results. He also called on the seven presidential candidates to respect the outcome when it is announced and exhorted them to follow legal procedures in resolving electoral conflicts that may arise. He pledged the commitment of ECOWAS to support Burkina Faso in the process of strengthening democracy and good governance in the country, The deployment of ECOWAS observer missions are in compliance with a regional mandate to assist Member States in organizing or observing elections as contained in the 2001 ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, a supplementary instrument to the Protocol relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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