Burkina Faso Abolishes All Political Parties, Groupings

(MENAFN) Burkina Faso's military regime has abolished every political party and political organization operating within its borders Thursday, justifying the sweeping action as essential for safeguarding national cohesion and overhauling the country's political framework.

The directive, ratified at a weekly Cabinet session chaired by President Ibrahim Traore, mandates the immediate seizure of all dissolved parties' assets by state authorities. Accompanying legislation to nullify existing laws governing party funding and operational procedures has been drafted for parliamentary review.

Minister of Territorial Administration Emile Zerbo explained the ruling stemmed from comprehensive scrutiny of the partisan landscape.

"This great and important decision is part of the refoundation of the state and follows a deep diagnosis of the partisan system which revealed numerous deviations in the application of the legal regime of political parties and groupings in our country," Zerbo stated.

He confirmed the accompanying draft legislation would reach the military-appointed Transitional Legislative Assembly "as soon as possible."

Officials cited the unchecked expansion of political organizations as a catalyst for citizen fragmentation and erosion of societal bonds.

Authorities declared the abolition seeks to "preserve national unity, strengthen the coherence of government action, and pave the way for a reform of the political governance model."

Burkina Faso has operated under military control following Traore's September 2022 takeover—the nation's second coup that year. The West African state confronts an acute security emergency driven by militants affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIS (Daesh).

The transitional administration has continually delayed elections originally scheduled for July 2024, attributing postponements to ongoing instability. While political party operations had been effectively frozen since the military seized power, formal prohibition was enacted only now.

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