VOTING STARTS IN BURKINA FASO`S LEGISLATIVE, CITY POLLS
Posted on
Dec 2, 2012
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Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore.
Voters cast ballots Sunday in legislative and
municipal elections in Burkina Faso, a test case a year and a half after
violence that almost toppled the administration of President Blaise
Compaore.
When polls opened at 6:00 am (0600 GMT), lines of
10 to 15 people were seen voting calmly in neighbourhoods on the
outskirts of the capital Ouagadougou.
Some 4.3 million people are expected to vote in the elections, with polls set to close at 1800 GMT.
Faced with a still divided opposition, Compaore's
powerful Congress for Democracy and Progress party enters the contest as
the big favourite despite internal tensions.
These are the first elections since a crisis in
early 2011 in this poor west African country, when a wave of mutinies,
in parallel with violent popular protests, almost toppled the
administration of Compaore, who has been in power since a military coup
in 1987.
