Burkina Elections are not a priority

Burkina: Elections are not a “priority”

From Le Figaro with AFP

Published yesterday at 11:37 p.m., updated 2 hours ago

Captain Ibrahim Traore. ALEXEY DANICHEV / AFP

Elections in Burkina Faso, unlike security, are not a “priority,” Captain Ibrahim Traoré said in an interview on national television on Friday evening, almost a year to the day after he came to power in a coup. “It is not a priority, I tell you clearly, security is a priority,” he replied to journalists in this country undermined by jihadist violence about elections theoretically scheduled for July 2024.

Ibrahim Traoré also announced a partial change to the constitution. “The current texts do not allow us to develop peacefully,” he replied to journalists with regard to a possible change to the Burkinabe constitution. “We will touch a part” and make a “partial amendment” to the Constitution, he said, deploring a text that he said reflected “the opinion of a handful of enlightened people” to the detriment of a “mass of the people.” Even if the elections are not a “priority,” he added that “our bet remains” to organize a vote, without specifying a date.