Who counts the votes now as Burkina Faso dissolves independent electoral body?

Territorial Administration Minister Émile Zerbo disclosed during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, July 16, that the commission costs the state nearly $870,000 a year in public funds, the BBC reported.

Zerbo defended the reform as necessary to reclaim "sovereign control on the electoral process and at the same time limit foreign influences."

In place of the independent electoral commission, the country's interior ministry will take over all forms of future elections.

The electoral commission’s removal marks yet another pivot in the junta’s way of governing.

Having staged coups in January 2022 and again in September of the same year, the military was originally meant to hand over power by July 2024. However, a new charter now lets Capt. Ibrahim Traoré remain in office until July 2029.

This power grab pattern is not unique to Burkina Faso. Across West Africa, military regimes in nations like Mali and Niger have tightened control, often citing civilian governments’ failure to address escalating cost-of-living troubles, as well as Islamist insurgencies.

With the interior ministry taking over elections, can future results ever claim democratic legitimacy?

Since gaining independence from France in 1960, Burkina Faso has experienced at least nine military overthrows. These coups began in 1966 and most recently in 2022, which leaves a legacy of continued instability.

Since 2022, Burkina Faso has been under military rule following two successive coups driven by frustration over the government’s failure to curb escalating Islamist insurgencies.

The first coup, in January 2022, saw Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Damiba take power from civilian ruler Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, only to be overthrown eight months later by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who accused Damiba of similar failures.

Traoré, then just 34 years old, suspended the constitution and dissolved the legislature, positioning himself as a revolutionary figure in the image of Thomas Sankara, while promising to restore security and sovereignty.

Despite promises of national revival, Burkina Faso’s humanitarian and security crises have worsened. Over 60% of the country is under threat from armed Islamist groups, more than 2 million people are displaced, and civil liberties are shrinking under military censorship.

While many citizens initially welcomed military intervention as a solution to instability, there is growing concern that the regime is replicating a familiar cycle where coups are justified by insecurity, but ultimately lead to greater authoritarianism and democratic erosion.