Zehavya blog

B.Faso's president in re-election bid vows to end poverty

OUAGADOUGOU (AFP) – Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore, favoured to be re-elected in this weekend's poll, wrapped up his campaign Friday promising to "break the chains of poverty" that affect nearly half the population.

"I urge you to vote, to make the choice which will be the right choice, the choice which has allowed you to progress these last two decades," Compaore told 30,000 supporters at the stadium in Ouagadougou.

"We can go further, we can break all the chains of poverty..." he said on the last day of campaigning before Sunday's presidential election.

In power since a 1987 coup, Compaore hailed what he called his country's "democratic renaissance" after years of coups and military regimes.

One of his six opponents in the presidential race, Hama Arba Diallo from the northern city of Dori, also held a rally in the country's capital, promising change.

The other contenders chose to end the campaign in their respective strongholds around the west African nation.

The country's electoral commission said Friday it expected to announce provisional results from the first round at the latest on Thursday.