Burkina Faso's politics: a constitution under a transitional charter

Which texts Burkina Faso is governed under

Burkina Faso has a written constitution and, for much of the time since 2014, a second text laid over it. The constitution is the one adopted by referendum and promulgated on 2 June 1991, the basis of what is called the Fourth Republic. Its Article 31 declares the country a democratic, unitary and secular state. It sets up a President of Faso, elected by direct universal suffrage, who appoints a prime minister from the majority in the National Assembly; a single chamber of deputies elected for five years; a Constitutional Council that rules on the constitutionality of laws and on elections; and a court system headed by the Court of Cassation, the Council of State and the Court of Accounts.

Whenever the ordinary order has broken down, a charter of transition has been laid on top of it. The charter governs, the constitution applies wherever the charter leaves it room, and the charter says when the transition ends. The country has had four such charters since 2014.

The constitution itself was set aside twice in 2022. Wikipedia records that the army dissolved the parliament, the government and the constitution after the coup of 24 January, restored the constitution on 31 January, and suspended it again after the coup of 30 September.

How a term limit ended Compaoré's rule

Article 37 is the clause the country's politics turned on for a decade. The 1991 text gave the president seven years; an amendment of April 2000 cut the term to five years, renewable once, and the revised wording now on record states that no one may hold the office for more than two mandates, consecutively or intermittently.

Blaise Compaoré, in office since the coup of 1987, was elected under the 1991 text in 1991 and 1998. In October 2005 the Constitutional Council ruled that the limit could not apply to terms served before the amendment, and he won in 2005 and 2010. In October 2014 his government brought an amendment to Article 37 that would have let him stand again in 2015. Britannica records that on 30 October, the day of the vote, demonstrators set fire to public buildings including the National Assembly; the head of the armed forces dissolved the government and the assembly, and Compaoré resigned on 31 October.

The transition that followed was written to be civilian. The Charter of the Transition of November 2014 required the transitional president to be a civilian with no party affiliation and barred serving, reserve and retired soldiers alike, along with anyone who had openly supported the change to Article 37. Its legislature, the National Council of the Transition, had 90 appointed members: 30 from the parties of the opposition, 25 from civil society, 25 from the defence and security forces and 10 from other parties. The transition survived an attempted coup by the Regiment of Presidential Security in September 2015 and ended with general elections on 29 November 2015. At the following election, on 22 November 2020, no party won a majority of the 127 seats in the National Assembly.

How the military transitions have governed since the coups

The transitions of 2022 were run by the army. After the coup of 24 January 2022, the junta calling itself the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration adopted a charter on 1 March 2022 that allowed three years of military-led transition before elections. A second coup on 30 September 2022 removed the first junta's leader, who had come to power eight months earlier, and the officers who took power gave his failure against the insurgency as their reason.

Freedom House's report for 2024 records that elections and a return to civilian rule had been scheduled for July 2024, and that in May the military leader signed a new transitional charter postponing the end of the transition by five years, to 2029. Wikipedia's article on the country's politics describes the same extension as 60 months. The legislative body of this period is the Transitional Legislative Assembly, which adopted the bill dissolving the political parties in February 2026.

Freedom House scored Burkina Faso 25 out of 100 in Freedom in the World 2025, down from 27 a year earlier, and rated it Not Free. It gave 3 of a possible 40 points for political rights and 22 of 60 for civil liberties. Its summary describes a junta that acted unilaterally to stay in power, postponed elections indefinitely and suppressed dissent, while insecurity worsened after both takeovers.

Why the political parties were dissolved

Party activity was suspended after the coup of September 2022, and Article 13 of the 1991 constitution, which says that political parties form freely, stayed on paper. On 29 January 2026 the Council of Ministers adopted a decree dissolving all political parties and political groupings, and on 9 February 2026 the Transitional Legislative Assembly adopted the bill that went with it. The measure transfers the parties' assets to the state and repeals the laws on parties, their financing and the status of the leader of the opposition.

The government's stated case, as reported by the Chinese news agency Xinhua and by the Media Foundation for West Africa, was that the number of parties had multiplied, that they had divided citizens and weakened social cohesion, and that dissolution would preserve national unity and the coherence of government action. The minister responsible described the aim as to "better regulate political life and pluralism, preserve national unity, and defend the state".

The objection came from press and human rights groups. The Media Foundation for West Africa argued that the existing law already allowed a party that broke the rules to be sanctioned or dissolved, that removing all of them concentrated authority in the transitional institutions, and that it left no structure through which a return to elections could be organised. It placed the decree alongside the arrest of six journalists in October 2025, among them editors of L'Observateur Paalga, Le Pays and the state daily Sidwaya, and the arrest of four judges of the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal and other judicial officials in the same period.

How security shapes civilian rights

The insurgency that began in 2015 is the frame for most of what the state now does. The British government's travel advice lists a state of emergency in eight regions, Centre-Est, Est, Centre-Nord, Nord, Boucle du Mouhoun, Sahel, Hauts-Bassins and Cascades, which gives the security forces powers to search, restrict movement and detain, and allows the right to protest and to hold large meetings to be suspended. In June 2022 the government created military zones that civilians were required to leave, and on 13 April 2023 it declared a general mobilisation.

Alongside the army, the state arms civilians. The Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland, a militia, grew by nearly 100,000 members, according to Wikipedia's politics article. Freedom House reports that activists, opponents, journalists and judicial officials were detained, made to disappear or forcibly conscripted into that militia in 2024, and it lowered its score for judicial independence because conscription was used to punish judges who had pursued cases against supporters of the junta.

The press has been narrowed in step. The BBC records that Radio France Internationale was suspended in 2022, that France 24 was suspended and that journalists for Le Monde and Libération were expelled. Wikipedia's politics article adds temporary suspensions of Radio Oméga, a private station. Freedom House gave 1 point out of 4 for free and independent media and 1 for freedom of assembly, noting that protests against the junta were banned and dispersed while rallies in its support were allowed.

How the regions and the chiefs are governed

Below the national institutions the country has a three-tier administration. Wikipedia's articles count 13 regions, each under a governor, and 45 provinces; Britannica adds that each province has a high commissioner and is divided into departments. Decentralisation under Compaoré devolved some powers to regions and municipalities, a process Wikipedia's country article says was hampered by distrust of politicians.

The constitution also makes room for authority it did not create. Its preamble recognises customary and traditional leadership as a moral authority that holds the country's customs and traditions. The Mossi kingdoms of Ouagadougou, Tenkodogo, Boussouma, Fada N'Gourma and Yatenga still have their own kings, who no longer hold sovereignty but keep cultural and political influence, according to Wikipedia's account of the kingdoms. The Mogho Naba lives in Ouagadougou, and Britannica records that his powers were greatly eclipsed by the colonial and post-independence states.

Why Burkina Faso turned from ECOWAS to the Sahel

Since the coups the country has cut its ties with France and with ECOWAS. The Economic Community of West African States and the African Union suspended Burkina Faso after the coup of January 2022. In 2023, the BBC records, the government expelled about 400 French special forces and said it would develop military links with Russia, while denying that it had hired mercenaries. In December 2023 it left the G5 Sahel, a security group formed in 2014, saying the group was serving foreign interests at the expense of the Burkinabe people.

In January 2024 Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced that they would leave ECOWAS, accusing it of failing to protect its members and of aligning too closely with foreign powers. They formed a confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States, and Voice of America records that they strengthened ties with Russia, Turkey and Iran. The withdrawal took effect on 29 January 2025. ECOWAS asked its remaining 12 members to keep recognising the three countries' passports and to keep trading with them until told otherwise, and said any member was welcome to return. Wikipedia records that the country also left the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie in 2025, and that it remains suspended from the African Union.

The military relationship with France had been close. Wikipedia's country article records that France provided significant support and training to the police, and that French forces took part with Malian and Burkinabe troops in Operation Panga near the Malian border in 2017 and in the army's offensive in the east in 2018. The same article cites Jane's Sentinel Country Risk Assessment of 2022, which judged the army undermanned for its force structure and poorly equipped, though with wheeled light armour and combat experience from interventions in Liberia and elsewhere. As a landlocked country it has an air force but no navy, and the elite Regiment of Presidential Security, long better equipped than the regular army, was disbanded by decree on 25 September 2015 after its failed coup.

Some memberships have not moved. Burkina Faso still belongs to the West African Economic and Monetary Union and uses the CFA franc issued by the Central Bank of West African States, and it remains a member of the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund.