Roch Marc Christian Kaboré

Kaboré, like his father, Charles Bila Kaboré (who was a government minister under President Maurice Yaméogo), worked as a banker for the International Bank of Burkina (BIB).[7] He was eventually promoted to head Burkina Faso's largest bank during the presidency of Thomas Sankara.[7] In 1984, aged 27, he was named the General Director of the BIB; he remained in that post until September 1989, when he was appointed to the government.[8]

He was in the government as a minister and a special adviser to the president and has been a deputy in the National Assembly.[9] He became Prime Minister in 1994. When the Congress for Democracy and Progress was formed in early February 1996, Kaboré resigned as Prime Minister and became the new ruling party's First Vice-President, as well as Special Adviser at the Presidency.[10]

On 6 June 2002, he was elected as President of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso, succeeding Mélégué Maurice Traoré.[11]

In the May 2007 parliamentary election, Kaboré was re-elected to the National Assembly as the first candidate on the CDP's national list. Following the election, the National Assembly again elected Kaboré as its president. He received 90 votes, while Norbert Tiendrébéogo received 13; there were seven invalid votes.[13]

Kaboré, along with a number of other prominent figures in the CDP, announced his resignation from the party on 6 January 2014. Those who resigned said that the party was being run in an undemocratic and damaging manner, and they expressed opposition to plans to amend the constitution to eliminate term limits, which would allow President Blaise Compaoré to stand for re-election in 2015.[14] On 25 January 2014, a new opposition party led by Kaboré, the People's Movement for Progress (Mouvement du Peuple pour le Progrès, MPP), was founded.[15][16]

At an MPP convention held at the Ouagadougou Palais des Sports on 4–5 July 2015, Kaboré was officially confirmed as the MPP candidate for the presidential elections due to be held on 29 November 2015.[17][18]

In the election of 29 November 2015, Kaboré won the election in the first round of voting, receiving 53.5% of the vote against 29.7% for the second place candidate, Zephirin Diabré.[19] He was sworn in as President on 29 December 2015.[20] He appointed Paul Kaba Thieba, an economist, as Prime Minister on 7 January 2016.[21] The composition of the new government was announced on 13 January, with Kaboré personally taking charge of the ministerial portfolio for defense and veteran affairs.[22] Jean-Claude Bouda, who had been Minister of Youth, was appointed on 20 February 2017 to take over from Kaboré as Minister of Defense.[23][24]

He was reelected to a second term in the 22 November 2020 general elections with 57.74% of the vote.[25]

On 24 January 2022, Kaboré was deposed by the military.[3] After the announcement, the military declared that the parliament, government, and constitution had been dissolved.[4] The Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR) shared a hand-written resignation letter by him, which was also signed, with its authenticity being verified by Reuters. "In the interests of the nation, following events that took place since yesterday, I have decided to resign from my role as president of Burkina Faso," said the letter.[26] It was afterwards reported that Kaboré had been detained at a military barracks.[27] He was later transferred to house arrest.[28][29]