Burkina Faso Dissolves All Political Parties, Deepening Traoré’s Military Rule

Burkina Faso’s military rulers have dissolved all political parties and scrapped the laws that governed them, a sweeping move that formally ends multiparty politics in the conflict-hit West African nation and deepens its shift toward open-ended military rule.

The measure was adopted Thursday, Jan. 29, at a Council of Ministers meeting in Ouagadougou chaired by Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power in a 2022 coup. A government decree announced afterward orders the immediate dissolution of every registered political party and similar organization and mandates that their assets be transferred to the state.

“The government has observed numerous deviations in the application of the legal regime of political parties and groupings,” Minister of Territorial Administration Émile Zerbo said in remarks broadcast on state television.

Zerbo said the “proliferation of political parties” had led to “abuses,” fueled “divisions among citizens” and weakened “the social fabric.” Authorities say the decision is part of what they call a “refoundation of the state” meant to preserve national unity as the army battles armed groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State.

A formal end to multiparty politics

The decree caps a gradual dismantling of Burkina Faso’s post-1991 electoral system. Political activities by parties were already suspended after the 2022 coup. In 2025, the junta dissolved the Independent National Electoral Commission and transferred election management to the interior ministry.

Now, with parties themselves abolished and their legal framework struck down, there is no functioning institutional pathway to organize campaigns or hold competitive national elections.

Zerbo said the government will submit a draft law to the Transitional Legislative Assembly to “reform political governance” and eventually set new rules for political organizations. He did not give a timeline.

More than 100 parties affected

The decision affects more than 100 parties and political formations that were officially registered before the army took power, including movements that dominated Burkinabè politics over the past three decades.

Among those now dissolved are:

• the People’s Movement for Progress (MPP) of ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré;
• the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP), the party built by longtime ruler Blaise Compaoré; and
• the Union for Progress and Reform (UPC), a main opposition force in recent elections.

About 15 parties that held seats in the 127-member National Assembly elected in November 2020 are also covered by the decree. Parliament itself was suspended after the first coup in January 2022 and later replaced by a transitional assembly appointed by the junta and its allies.

The decree orders that party headquarters, local offices, vehicles and financial assets be taken over by the state. Authorities have not detailed how those assets will be managed or whether any compensation will be considered.

From short transition to open-ended rule

Burkina Faso has undergone two military takeovers in as many years.

On Jan. 24, 2022, Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba overthrew Kaboré, citing his government’s failure to stem jihadist violence that has killed thousands and displaced more than a million people since 2015.

Barely eight months later, on Sept. 30, 2022, Traoré ousted Damiba, again promising to restore security and organize a swift return to constitutional order. An initial transition charter pledged to hold elections and hand power back to civilians by July 2024.

That timetable has since been pushed back. In May 2024, a national dialogue convened by the junta adopted a new charter extending military rule by 60 months from July 2, 2024—effectively to July 2029. The document also allows Traoré to stand in any future presidential election.

In subsequent public statements, the 36-year-old officer has said elections will not be held until security is restored, arguing that “elections are not a priority” while large parts of the country remain under threat from armed groups.

Security deteriorates as institutions shrink

The dissolution of political parties comes as violence has continued, and in some areas intensified, under military rule.

Analyses of conflict data show that fatalities linked to militant Islamist violence in Burkina Faso have nearly tripled in the three years since Traoré’s coup compared with the three years before. Thousands of civilians, soldiers and fighters have been killed, and the number of people forced from their homes has risen above 2 million, according to U.N. agencies and humanitarian groups.

Burkinabè security forces and allied volunteer militias have also been accused by rights organizations of carrying out unlawful killings of civilians during counterinsurgency operations. The government has rejected many of those reports as disinformation aimed at discrediting the army.

Officials say dismantling what they consider a fractured and self-interested party system is necessary to unify the country.

“The refoundation of the state requires us to rethink political practice,” Zerbo said. “We must preserve national unity and strengthen the coherence of government action.”

Critics—including exiled opponents and some civil society actors who have spoken to international media—argue that eliminating parties and seizing their assets further concentrates power in the presidency and the military while doing little to address the drivers of insurgency, which include local grievances over governance, marginalization and abuses by armed actors.

Media and civil society under pressure

The move against parties follows a broader tightening of space for dissent and independent reporting.

In April 2024, Burkina Faso’s media regulator suspended BBC Africa and Voice of America for two weeks and ordered internet providers to block access to their websites—along with that of Human Rights Watch—after they reported on alleged army massacres of civilians. Access to several other international outlets, including French newspapers and broadcasters, has since been restricted or cut.

Journalist groups and rights organizations have documented arrests, disappearances and, in some cases, forced conscription of local reporters who criticized the authorities. Officials say such measures target only those spreading false information and undermining the war effort.

Since 2022, political rallies and demonstrations have largely been banned. The junta has also announced the discovery of alleged coup plots and detained soldiers and civilians it accuses of trying to overthrow Traoré.

Regional pattern and foreign realignment

Burkina Faso’s decision mirrors a step taken in neighboring Mali, where transitional President Assimi Goïta signed a decree in May 2025 dissolving all political parties and associations with political aims and banning political gatherings, citing threats to public order.

The two countries, along with Niger, have formed the Alliance of Sahel States, a regional bloc that began as a mutual defense pact and is evolving into a confederation. The three juntas formally withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States in 2025, after years of tension over coup-related sanctions and demands for a rapid return to civilian rule.

At the same time, Burkina Faso has moved away from its former security partnership with France and strengthened ties with Russia. In early 2024, Russian military personnel from a Defense Ministry-controlled formation known as the Africa Corps deployed to Burkina Faso to support government forces, according to Russian and Burkinabè officials.

Analysts say the combination of new security alliances, looser regional oversight and domestic legal changes has given Sahelian military rulers more room to consolidate power without facing the same level of external pressure as past juntas.

An uncertain path ahead

With the latest decree, Burkina Faso enters an unusual phase in its modern history: a state without legally recognized political parties, without an independent electoral commission and without a clear date for a return to civilian rule.

The Transitional Legislative Assembly—whose members are appointed from the armed forces, civil society, and certain professional and traditional groups—is expected to review the promised draft law on future political organizations. It operates under the authority of the transitional charter and has so far largely endorsed executive initiatives.

For now, ordinary Burkinabè who wish to influence national policy have few formal channels beyond engagement with local authorities, security forces or the tightly controlled forums convened by the junta.

The government maintains that its approach will eventually deliver both security and a reformed, more “responsible” political system. Whether that vision results in a new kind of controlled party landscape or prolongs a period of rule centered on the presidency and the army remains unclear in a country where ballots have been set aside and politics—at least on paper—no longer has parties.