Kabore elected president of Burkina Faso—electoral commission

Burkina Faso presidential candidate Roch Marc Christian Kabore from the MPP party waves during a rally in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Friday, Nov. 27, 2015. Last year, longtime strongman Blaise Compaore resigned amid protests that brought hundreds of thousands of Burkinabe into the streets, furious over the president’s attempt to circumvent constitutional term limits and stay in office. The October 2014 uprising ushered in a transition that ends with presidential and legislative elections on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015, the most hotly contested in the history of this West African nation. AP Photo

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso—Roch Marc Christian Kabore won Burkina Faso’s presidential election, official results showed, after a year of turmoil that saw the west African country’s former leader deposed and the military try to seize power in a coup.

Kabore, who governed under former strongman Blaise Compaore before turning his back on the old regime, won the vote in the first round with 53.49 percent of ballots, the electoral commission said late Monday.

“We must get to work immediately. Together we must serve the country,” he told a crowd of several thousand supporters outside his party headquarters, pledging his “determination to open up the opportunities for a better tomorrow.”

The new president also expressed his “warm congratulations” to the election authorities that organised the poll, the first time in almost three decades Burkina has voted in a new leader after Compaore was ousted in a popular uprising last year.

Kabore’s main rival Zephirin Diabre, who took 21.65 percent of votes, congratulated the former premier just before the results were released, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

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