The Republic of Burkina Faso, a francophone West African country, practises a closed-party list Proportional Representation (PR) electoral system. The political parties contesting elections present their district lists of potential legislators (candidates) to the Commission Nationale d'Organisation des Elections (CNOE) before election day. Legislative seats are allocated to the forty-five electoral districts on the basis of one seat per 100,000 people. The number of seats per district ranges from the largest of eleven for the Ougadougou district, to a minimum of one. The party lists of candidates are equal to the number of seats available to the particular district, and are drawn up from most preferred candidate to the least preferred one. At the end of vote counting, seats are awarded to the parties using the Hare quota system. That is, the allocation of seats is determined by dividing the total vote of the district by the number of contested seats.
In presidential elections or referendum a two-round majority runoff formula is used.
Appointment and Training of Officials
The CNOE is itself appointed a few months before the planned date of an impending election. On appointment, it is the responsibility of the CNOE to make all arrangements for the elections, including the appointment and training of all election (and counting) officials. The election officials double as counting officials. All officials are appointed for a particular election or registration, even though most of them are always reappointed. Most of the officials are teachers. By appointing officials, the Commission ensures that they are not active supporters of any political party, candidate, or option for a referendum. All election officials are trained over a period of a day or two within one month of the impending election. CNOE senior staff and qualified district electoral officers carry out by the training. After the training the officials are issued with the officials' manual and other important election documents for ease of reference.
Vote Counting
The ballot paper design consists of the name, or acronym, of the party and its symbol, and a space at the end for the voter to make his mark. The voter has to insert the ballot paper into an envelope before putting the envelope into the ballot box.
Votes are counted at the polling station soon after voting has ended. At the end of voting the election officials, now counting officials, ensure that members of the public leave the room. The following are admitted to the room before the counting process begins:
- representatives of political parties, candidates or option,
- the security officer/s in charge of the station,
- accredited local and international observers, and
- CNOE officials on duty or visiting the station.
The leader of the team of officials in charge of the station and any other person present inspect the ballot box to ensure that the seal is still securely in place. He then breaks the seal and pours the ballot envelopes on a large table. Officials carry out a ballot envelope reconciliation, by comparing the number of voters' names checked on the roll with the number of envelopes issued. When they are satisfied with this process, the envelopes are opened, and the ballot papers removed. Any spoiled envelopes are counted and set aside. A ballot account is now carried out, and the ballots sorted into piles according to party, candidate, or option. Officials count each pile of ballots manually. The leader will pick a ballot, hold it visibly for everybody to see, and count it. Each official, representative, or observer can keep track of the votes as the counting proceeds. When the count is completed, he fills in the results form and then signs it, as well as the representatives. Four official copies of the results are made and distributed as follows:
- the electoral officer in charge of the district,
- the district police headquarters,
- a copy is deposited with the city mayor or town councillor,
- and, of course, one copy is kept as the polling station record of the results.
As part of a ballot account, a record is made of spoiled envelopes and rejected ballots.
A ballot is rejected for any one of the following reasons:
- no mark was made by the voter,
- more than one mark has been made on it, or
- it has not been put in an envelope.
The results of the polling stations are collated at the electoral area level.
The electoral district officer then forwards the collated results to the officer-in-charge of the district, in the case of a more than one constituency district. Representatives of political parties, candidates and options, as well as local and international observers, are witnesses to the collation. Security personnel maintain order at all stages of the process.
From the district level, the collated results are sent to the national level for the national collation to be done at CNOE headquarters. However, for legislative elections, the seats won by the contesting political parties are determined at the district level, and the names of the winning candidates sent to the national office. CNOE officials personally transmit all results, in the company of security personnel and party representatives.
The CNOE is responsible for publishing the interim results. All challenges/disputes over electoral results released by the commission must be filed at the Supreme Court within five days after the publication of the interim results. The Supreme Court then adjudicates and declares the final results. It may order a recount of the votes.
If the Supreme Court finds no merit in the challenges brought before it, it then declares the results as authentic and final.
