Burkina Faso’s military-led government has officially dissolved the country’s electoral commission, shifting responsibility for organising future elections to the interior ministry.

The move was announced on state broadcaster RTB on Wednesday, in what officials described as a cost-cutting and sovereignty-enhancing decision.

The country’s Territorial Administration Minister, Emile Zerbo, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) had been receiving approximately $870,000 annually in state subsidies.

He argued that scrapping the body would reduce spending and allow greater national control over the conduct of elections.

“This decision will reinforce our sovereign control on the electoral process and at the same time limit foreign influences,” Zerbo said, as quoted by AFP.

The commission’s dissolution comes amid broader political restructuring under the current junta, which took power in September 2022 following a coup led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré.

The transitional government had initially promised a return to democratic rule, but elections originally scheduled for 2024 were postponed. In 2023, the junta extended its transition timeline, setting a new date of July 2029 for a return to civilian governance.

Traoré, who came to power citing widespread insecurity and ineffective civilian leadership, will remain eligible to contest the next presidential election under the revised transition plan.

Since the coup, Burkina Faso’s military leadership has realigned foreign policy, cutting ties with France and increasing cooperation with Russia. Human rights organisations have raised concerns about reported abuses by security forces, including civilian casualties in counterinsurgency operations and growing restrictions on political expression and press freedom.

Despite the junta’s efforts, Islamist violence has escalated. Data verified by the BBC indicates that Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), a jihadist group affiliated with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for more than 280 attacks in the first half of 2025, twice the number recorded in the same period last year.

The government has not yet announced how the interior ministry will manage future electoral processes, nor whether any independent oversight will be retained.