National Assembly of Burkina Faso explained

National Assembly
Native Name:Assemblée nationale
Native Name Lang:fr
Legislature:7th National Assembly
Coa Pic:File:Coat of arms of Burkina Faso.svg
House Type:Unicameral
Seats:127
Leader1 Type:President
Leader1:Vacant
Election1:24 January 2022
Structure1 Res:250px
Voting System1:Proportional representation
Last Election1:22 November 2020
Session Room:File:Assemblee Nationale Burkina Faso.jpg
Meeting Place:Parliament Building, Ouagadougou
Constitution:Constitution of Burkina Faso

The unicameral National Assembly is the legislative body of Burkina Faso. In 1995, it became the lower house of a bicameral parliament, but the upper house (Chamber of Representatives) was abolished in 2002. The upper house was to have been restored under the name "Senate" in the June 2012 constitutional amendments.[1] This revision was never executed due to an extended and unresolved political confrontation over the Senate's establishment, which left the country effectively with a unicameral legislature as of the October 2014 constitutional crisis.[2]

On 30 October 2014, as part of the 2014 Burkinabé uprising, protesters stormed the parliament building and set fire to it, in anger at the parliament's decision to amend the Constitution of Burkina Faso to abolish term limits, which would have effectively paved the way for President Blaise Compaoré to remain in office for another five-year term.[3]

On 24 January 2022, during the January 2022 Burkinabé coup d'état, President Kaboré was detained and deposed by the military.[4] After the announcement, the military declared that the parliament and government had been dissolved.[5] In its place a transitional legislative assembly was sworn in on 22 March 2022.[6] It was also dissolved on 30 September after a coup d'état against interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.[7] A new transitional legislative assembly was sworn in on 11 November.[8]

Electing the National Assembly

Burkina Faso is divided into 45 electoral provinces within their 13 regions. Each province elects between two and nine representatives, and these representatives are members of political parties. There are 111 members of the National Assembly elected to represent provinces, and 16 nationally elected, totaling 127.[9]

In Burkina Faso, the National Assembly is elected by a proportional representation system. Proportional representation in Burkina Faso means that each voter marks one party on the ballot, and after tallying the votes, the top parties chosen are elected to the Assembly. Each electoral province has a simple electoral quotient. This is the number of valid votes counted divided by the number of seats available. If a party wins a seat by the electoral quotient, usually half of the votes, then the remainder of the seats are transferred to a "rest" category, which are compared to the other votes gathered. For example, in the province of Boulkiemde, the MPP (People's Movement for Progress) received 29,445 votes, which is 35.1% of the total votes of the province.[10] Boulkiemde elects four representatives to their legislature, so their electoral quotient is 21002 votes (84007÷4). This means that the MPP will receive one seat from the electoral quotient. The remaining votes are transferred to another category, which is compared among the other candidates. These remaining votes in Boulkiemde won the MPP another seat in the legislature, since the remaining votes (8443) are the second highest compared to the rest of the parties (CDP=16968, UPC=8099). Thus, since the MPP received 35.1% of the votes, they received 50% of the seats due to the electoral quotient.

Elections are led by teachers in Burkina Faso, who are not allowed to be a member of any political party.  The ballot has a name, acronym, or symbol of the party and a space for voters to mark.[11] The ballots are placed in envelopes, and then placed in ballot boxes. The leader of the election officials ensures that the seal is not broken before counting all of the votes. The teachers who are trained as election officials become counting officials. Invalid ballots include those that have no marks, more than one mark, or ballots not in an envelope.  The ballots are sent to the district level after counting them, where the winner of a legislative seat will be determined based on the number of votes. The districts are divided by one seat per 100,000 people, so the capital, Ouagadougou, has nine seats.

2015 National Assembly elections

In the 2015 parliamentary election, the People's Movement for Progress party received 51.3% of the national vote, winning 55 seats. The Union for Progress and Change (UPC) received 20.5% of the vote, which won them 33 seats. The Congress for Democracy and Progress party won 18 seats with 13.2% of the vote, and the New Alliance of Faso party received two seats, with 4.1% of the vote.

Results by electoral province: 111 seats

Electoral provinceTotal votesSeatsPartyVotesProportion of votePartyVotesProportion of votePartyVotesProportion of votePartyVotesProportion of vote
Bale410732MPP193710.471624UPC98120.238892
BAM632472MPP259340.410043CDP111450.176214
Banwa420142MPP199410.474628Unir/PS62680.149188
Bazega503462MPP178700.354944UPC113010.224467
Bougouriba184502MPP56940.308618UPC54450.295122
Boulgou1272104MPP226950.178406UPC (2)675520.531027CDP86960.068359
Boulkiemde840074MPP294450.350507CDP169680.201983UPC80990.096409
Comoe694882MPP252700.36366UPC112420.161783
Fada Gourma580412MPP183570.316276UPC155540.267983
Ganzourgou697102MPP (2)529130.7590450
Gnagna916553MPP291780.318346UPC274980.300016NTD103770.113218
Houet2250856MPP (2)698020.310114CDP263600.117111UPC455340.202297UNIR93760.041655
Ioba422332MPP127510.30192UPC146230.346246
Kadiogo6177829MPP (3)2131790.345072UPC (2)1504920.2436UNIR/PS388960.062961CDP561430.090878
Kenedougou532612MPP190930.35848UPC176110.330655
Komondjari201592MPP94620.469369UPC68620.340394
Kossi484192MPP151540.312976UPC98880.204217
Kompienga184012CDP52050.282865UPC64090.348296
Koulpelogo530702MPP181700.342378UPC134450.253345
Kouritenga777842MPP325520.418492UPC180140.23159
Kourweogo254412MPP73600.289297CDP49330.1939
Leraba279662MPP93550.334513UPC78180.279554
Lorum342872MPP98780.288098MDA111700.325779
Mouhoun514442MPP199090.387003UPC110990.215749
Nahouri440282MPP138320.314164UPC129410.293927
Namentenga565332MPP230280.407337CDP99690.176339
Nayala346432MPP151710.437924CDP72590.209537
Noumbiel148422MPP49240.331761UPC41930.282509
Oubritenga491172MPP119860.24403CDP261890.533196
Oudalan523032MPP161940.309619UBN157450.301034
Passore657083MPP182520.277774CDP106480.16205UNIR/PS172370.262327
Poni384612MPP101540.264008UPC112940.293648
Sanguie561812MPP146210.260248NAFA176050.313362
Sanmatenga1126244MPP314420.279177UPC87550.077737RDS157940.140237CDP210130.186577
Seno730072MPP176700.242032PDS281650.385785
Sissili395562MPP151180.382192UPC86000.217413
Soum792472MPP185830.234495CDP207520.261865
Sourou385692MPP108750.281962CDP91170.236382
Tapoa618262MPP281710.45565UPC191210.309271
Tuy369482MPP173220.468821UPC70180.189943
Yagha397352MPP122360.30794NTD87510.220234
Yatenga1387734MPP(2)688830.496372ADF-RDA226920.163519CDP128070.092287
Ziro286382MPP102710.358649LFA70280.245408
Zondoma369022MPP216550.586825CDP64890.175844
Zoundweogo542072CDP130970.241611UPC267440.493368

National results: 16 seats

Political partyNumber of votesNumber of seatsProportion of vote
ADF-RDA96,61410.030577
CDP417,05820.131995
MPP1,096,81460.347131
NAFA130,96310.041449
NTD70,37410.022273
PAREN59,42110.018806
UNIR/PC118,66210.037555
UPC648,78430.205334

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kere. Barthélemy. Constitution of Burkina Faso - WIPO (français). WIPO.int. WIPO. 1 November 2014.
  2. News: Coulibaly. Nadoun. Burkina Faso : vers un référendum constitutionnel pour Blaise Compaoré?. 1 November 2014. Jeune Afrique. Groupe Jeune Afrique.
  3. News: Taoko. Herve. Cowell. Alan. Callimachi. Rukmini. Violent Protests Topple Government in Burkina Faso. 30 October 2014. New York Times. New York Times Company. 30 October 2014.
  4. Web site: Burkina Faso army says it has deposed President Kabore. 24 January 2022. www.aljazeera.com. en.
  5. News: 24 January 2022. Burkina Faso military says it has seized power. en-GB. BBC News. 24 January 2022.
  6. News: 22 March 2022. The transitional parliament in Burkina Faso works after the January coup. Infobae. 5 October 2022.
  7. Web site: Burkina Faso's Military Leader Overthrown in Country's 2nd Coup This Year. Philip Andrew Churm. Africanews. 1 October 2022. 5 September 2022.
  8. Web site: Burkina Faso's new transitional legislature takes office. Africanews. 11 November 2022. 13 January 2023.
  9. Web site: Sahel Research Group Burkina Faso. sahelresearch.africa.ufl.edu. 2016-05-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20160609170051/http://sahelresearch.africa.ufl.edu/tsep/themesissues/the-electoral-system/burkina-faso/. 2016-06-09. dead.
  10. Web site: ELECTIONS LEGISLATIVES A CIRCONSCRIPTION PROVINCIALE. December 1, 2015. Ceni.gov. CENI. May 2, 2016.
  11. Web site: Electoral Systems Counting Requirements —. aceproject.org. 2016-05-03.

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