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Kabore urges dialogue as opposition vows to appeal Burkina Faso vote results

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Sophie Garcia/Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Roch Marc Christian Kaboré

Speaking shortly after the electoral commission's announcement, Kabore offered an olive branch to the opposition, which has criticized re-election as flawed.

"I will deploy all my efforts so that through continuous consultation, through dialogue... we can work together for peace and development," he said at his party's headquarters in the capital Ouagadougou.

"We are all Burkinabe, seeking to build a better Burkina Faso together," he said.

"It is a victory... we do have joy in our hearts, but there is also a major responsibility - that of being the president of all Burkinabe, without exception."

Preliminary results on Thursday showed Kabore winning nearly 58% of the vote.

Opponents Eddie Komboigo, head of the Congress for Democracy and Progress, received 15 percent, and the other main challenger, Zephirin Diabre, from the Progress and Change Party, who lost to Kabore in 2015, garnered approximately 12 percent.

Kabore has come under fire for what critics say has been a lackluster response to a five-year-old militant insurgency that has rolled in from Mali.

Despite his record, he was the favorite in what commentators said was one of the country's most open elections in years.

By winning an overall majority in the first round he avoids a runoff vote in which he would have had to stand against a single candidate backed by a united opposition.