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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Burkina Faso votes as Compaore seeks fourth term as president |
| 2010-11-22 |
| [Daily Nation (Kenya)] Voters trickled to the polls on Sunday as Burkina Faso voted in presidential elections with incumbent Blaise Compaore expected to win a fourth term amid fears he could extend his grip on power indefinitely. Yeah, well I still want to know what they did with Upper Volta. Mr Compaore, 59, has led the impoverished African nation since 1987 when he staged the country's fifth military coup since independence in 1960. Now that I think about it, you never seem to hear anything about Lower Volta, either... Speaking as he cast his ballot with his wife Chantal at a polling station in the centre of Ouagadougou, Compaore urged as many people to vote as possible. And Central Volta hasn't even made it to Wikipedia... "We want to see the people turn out in massive numbers as this is a moment which allows us, including those of us who are in power, to assess where we are and also to look to the future," Mr Compaore said. "We must place our faith in the choice of the people and we await their choice with confidence," the president added. ... though the Chevy Volta has... But turnout was visibly low in early voting today in the capital Ouagadougou and other main cities, residents said. When I was a child we used to think Oogabooga was a nonsense word. We'd holler it at each other and cackle for no particular reason. Now we find out people actually live there. Go figure. A low turnout is expected to play into Compaore's hands. Turnout was 57.6 per cent in 2005, when Compaore won 80 per cent of the vote. Supporters say Mr Compaore has brought stability to the land-locked former French colony and established himself as "mediator-in-chief" in other West African nations beset by crises. I guess having a president-for-life who's been in office for 23 years is stability of a sort... The country remains one of the poorest in the world with nearly half of its 16 million population living in poverty. ... just not the best sort. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 I thought Burkina Faso was a backup point guard for the Knicks. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-11-22 00:38 |