Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form:
Burkina Faso
local long form:
none
local short form:
Burkina Faso
former:
Upper Volta, Republic of Upper Volta
Government type:
parliamentary republic
Capital:
name: Ouagadougou
geographic coordinates:
12 22 N, 1 31 W
time difference:
UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:
13 regions; Boucle du Mouhoun, Cascades, Centre, Centre-Est, Centre-Nord, Centre-Ouest, Centre-Sud, Est, Hauts-Bassins, Nord, Plateau-Central, Sahel, Sud-Ouest
Independence:
5 August 1960 (from France)
National holiday:
Republic Day, 11 December (1958); note - commemorates the day that Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French Community
Constitution:
several previous; latest approved by referendum 2 June 1991, adopted 11 June 1991; amended several times, last in 2012 (2012)
Legal system:
civil law based on the French model and customary law
International law organization participation:
has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
[see also: Suffrage country ranks ]
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Blaise COMPAORE (since 15 October 1987)
head of government:
Prime Minister Luc-Adolphe TIAO (since 18 April 2011)
cabinet:
Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister
elections:
president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 21 November 2010 (next to be held in 2015); prime minister appointed by the president with the consent of the legislature
election results:
Blaise COMPAORE reelected president; percent of popular vote - Blaise COMPAORE 80.2%, Hama Arba DIALLO 8.2%, Benewende Stanislas SANKARA 6.3%, other 5.3%
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (127 seats; members are elected by proportional representation in one national constituency of 16 seats, and 45 multi-member constituencies having between 2 and 9 seats with members serving five-year terms)
elections:
National Assembly election last held on 2 December 2012 (next to be held in 2017)
election results:
percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - CDP 70, ADF-RDA 19, Union for Progress and Reform 19, UPR 4, UNIR-MS 4, CFD-B 3, PDS/Metba 2, other 6
Judicial branch:
highest court(s): Supreme Court of Appeals or Cour de Cassation (consists of NA judges); Constitutional Council or Conseil Constitutionnel (consists of the council president and 3 judges)
judge selection and term of office:
Supreme Court judge appointments mostly controlled by the president of Burkina Faso; judge tenure NA; Constitutional Council judges appointed by the president of Burkina Faso upon the proposal of the minister of justice; judges appointed for 9-year terms with one-third of judges renewed every 3 years
subordinate courts:
Appeals Court; High Court; first instance tribunals; district courts; specialized courts relating to issues of labor, children, and juveniles; village (customary) courts
Political parties and leaders:
African Democratic Rally-Alliance for Democracy and Federation or ADF-RDA [Gilbert OUEDRAOGO]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Burkinabe General Confederation of Labor or CGTB [Tole SAGNON]
other: watchdog/political action groups throughout the country in both organizations and communities
International organization participation:
ACP, AfDB, AU, CD, ECOWAS, EITI (candidate country), Entente, FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (NGOs), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MONUSCO, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNISFA, UNITAR, UNWTO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Seydou BOUDA (since 2 September 2011)
chancery:
2340 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:
[1] (202) 332-5577
FAX:
[1] (202) 667-1882
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Tulinabo S. MUSHINGI (since 25 July 2013)
embassy:
602 Avenue Raoul Follereau, Koulouba, Secteur 4
mailing address:
01 B. P. 35, Ouagadougou 01; pouch mail - US Department of State, 2440 Ouagadougou Place, Washington, DC 20521-2440
telephone:
[226] 50-49-53-00
FAX:
[226] 50-49-56-28
Flag description:
two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and green with a yellow five-pointed star in the center; red recalls the country's struggle for independence, green is for hope and abundance, and yellow represents the country's mineral wealth
note:
uses the popular Pan-African colors of Ethiopia
National symbol(s):
white stallion
National anthem:
name: "Le Ditanye" (Anthem of Victory)
lyrics/music: Thomas SANKARA
note: adopted 1974; also known as "Une Seule Nuit" (One Single Night), Burkina Faso's anthem was written by the country's president, an avid guitar player
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Burkina Faso on this page is re-published from the 2014 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Burkina Faso Government 2014 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Burkina Faso Government 2014 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 06-Nov-14