Burkina Faso’s military government has issued a decree dissolving all registered political parties and scrapping the laws that once regulated their activities.
Gatekeepers News reports that the authorities said the decision is aimed at promoting national unity and overhauling the country’s political system.
Officials said that before this move the West African nation had more than 100 political parties, with 15 holding seats in the last parliament, but after the September 2022 coup led by Captain Ibrahim Traore, party activities had already been suspended.
Territorial Administration Minister Emile Zerbo said the government believes the large number of political parties contributed to divisions among citizens and weakened social cohesion, and that dissolving them was needed to “rebuild the state.”
Under the new decree, all assets of the dissolved parties will now transfer to the state, and draft laws have been prepared to repeal key texts governing party finances and operations and to regulate future political groupings, which will be sent to the Transitional Legislative Assembly for approval.
The decision comes amid ongoing security challenges in Burkina Faso, where insurgencies linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates have destabilised large parts of the country, prompting repeated postponements of elections that were expected to return civilian rule.
Alongside the political changes, the junta has been advancing major development and governance plans, including a strategic national roadmap called “RELANCE Plan,” valued at FCFA 36 trillion (about $65 billion), which aims to strengthen security, improve infrastructure, develop human capital, and transform the economy from 2026 to 2030.
