The parliament was the last body of the transition to be set up, after the appointment of the president of the transition and the formation of the Burkinabe government.
Dr. Ousmane Bougouma was elected president of the transitional parliament on Friday 11 November 2022, at the end of a plenary session to validate the mandates of the 71 transitional deputies, APA noted.
He obtained 65 votes from 67 voters.
His opponent, MP Bénédicte Bailou, obtained 2 votes; the third candidate, Daouda Diallo withdrew from the race.
There were no invalid ballots.
The professor of private law at the Thomas Sankara University of Ouagadougou is taking over from another academic, Professor Aboubacar Togoyéni, as head of the Transitional Legislative Assembly (TLA).
“The University retains the presidency of the Transitional Legislative Assembly. It is a matter of teachers,” commented journalist Yacouba Ouédraogo.
Dr Bougouma had already sat in the ALT from March to September 2022, under the regime of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, for the Central Plateau.
Very active, he had chaired the Commission on General and Institutional Affairs and Human Rights (CAGIDH).
This jurist was reappointed by ‘consensus’ by the active forces of his region, for ‘his activism and commitment’.
Philippe Nissa Traoré, tax adviser, believes that “in a republic, the national representation is the main body. In our context, the fight against terrorism is not only military, with social laws that concern the general interest, hearts can relax… Strong laws and their enforcement in areas such as corruption and land tenure can calm people down”.
After his election, Dr Ousmane Bougouma called on his fellow MPs to go and meet the people in order to collect their contributions to “legislate differently in order to take into account the opinions of the people”.
He called for a “rapid handling of the files so that together, with professionalism and a zeal to serve our country, we can work towards reforms and an uncompromising control of government action”.
His election came after the validation of the mandates of the 71 members of the ALT designated to sit in this third transitional legislature which includes 11 women and 60 men.
Eighteen MPs served in the previous legislature.
Twenty of the seventy-one MPs were appointed by the head of state, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, 13 are members of the Forces vives des régions, 12 are from political parties and 10 from civil society.
According to the transition timetable, they have a free mandate but receive a sessional allowance.
They are also in permanent session after their inauguration.
DS/ac/lb/as/APA