Polls opened in Burkina Faso on Sunday in a presidential election dominated by jihadist violence, which has cost over 2,000 lives this year and will prevent voting in hundreds of villages.
President Roch Kaboré is seeking a second five-year term, campaigning on achievements such as free healthcare for children under the age of five and paving some of the red dirt roads that snake across the arid West African country.
But a surge in attacks by groups with links to the militant groups al Qaeda and Islamic State has eclipsed everything else. Three weeks after his inauguration, al Qaeda’s regional branch attacked a hotel and a cafe in the capital, killing 32 people. An ambush on mine workers in the east last year killed 39.
“We need someone who is going to bring peace to our country. The president needs a second mandate to end what has started,” said secretary Maimouna Tapsoba, 59, who wiped purple ink from her finger after voting in Ouagadougou.
Small numbers of early voters waited in a large sandy schoolyard to cast their ballots after polls opened at 6 a.m. (0600 GMT).
Kaboré faces stiff opposition from former finance minister Zephirin Diabré, the runner-up in 2015, and Eddie Komboigo, who runs the party of Blaise Campaoré, the president of 27 years who was overthrown in 2014. Analysts expect a tight race that could go to a second round if no candidate wins more than 50%.
Provisional results of the first round are expected by midweek.
In a press conference on Saturday, Diabré said the president was orchestrating “massive fraud” ahead of the vote, without providing evidence. The electoral commission says polling stations will remain shut across much of the north and east for fear of violence.
At least 400,000 people – nearly 7% of the electorate – will be unable to cast their votes, official data show.
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