Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said Friday he had received the congratulations of the leader of the opposition, a day after official results showed he was re-elected by a landslide.
“I have received on Friday evening the congratulations of the presidential candidate, Zephirin Diabre,” Kabore wrote on Twitter. “I salute his approach which is in line with the republican spirit of our political class,” he said, accompanying his tweet with a photo of the two.
When the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced Kabore’s landslide victory on Thursday, the opposition had said it “reserved the right” to challenge the results.
Diabre’s Union for Progress and Change (UPC) said on its website before Kabore’s tweet it wished to “point out the major shortcomings” which had “marred” the ballot.
“Considering the difficult situation our country is going through” it reaffirmed its “renewed desire to always preserve peace, stability and security in Burkina Faso by placing the interest of the nation above all other considerations”.
Eddie Komboigo, the champion of ousted president Blaise Campaore’s party, came second in Sunday’s vote with 15.48 percent of the ballot.
He was followed in the 13-candidate field by Diabre, who had been considered by pundits to be the best-placed opposition hopeful, with 12.46 percent of votes cast.
