AP: Burkina Faso moves ahead with vote despite extremist attacks
UC faculty member Alex Thurston’s expertise in West African politics reaches a national audience
As the U.S. grapples with its own election woes, UC faculty member Alex Thurston explains the political unrest in West Africia leading up to a Nov. 22 election there.
Thurston, an assistant professor of political science, is cited as an expert in an Associated Press article covering the political unrest in the West African country of Burkina Faso.
“The stakes are high in a way, because of (Burkina Faso’s) severe problems and the importance of consolidating democracy,” he says.
This month’s vote is only Burkina Faso’s second democratically held election since gaining independence from France in 1960. The first one was held five years ago after a popular uprising ousted President Blaise Compaore, who came to power in a bloody military coup and ruled the nation for nearly 30 years.
While November’s elections are said to be more inclusive than the last — allowing opposition parties to run that were previously denied participation — the violence and the pandemic have had officials scrambling to find ways to register citizens, in a country with a historically low voter turnout.
Featured image of a political rally in Burkina Faso. Photo/Sam Mednick/AP
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