1980 Upper Voltan coup d'état 1980 Upper Voltan coup d'état The 1980 Upper Voltan coup d'état took place on 25 November 1980 in the Republic of Upper Volta (today Burkina Faso). Following a long period of drought, famine, popular unrest and labour strikes, Colonel Saye Zerbo overthrew President Sangoulé Lamizana, another military leader. Zerbo himself would be overthrown only two years later. Upper Volta had gained independence from France in 1960, after which President Maurice Yaméogo set about creating a single-party dictatorship ruled by his own Voltaic Democratic Union. Following several rigged elections and a new austerity budget being instituted, the powerful trade unions rose
1948 Upper Voltan Territorial Assembly election the Voltaic Union over the African Democratic Rally-affiliated Entente Voltaïque (EV), with some commandants "using strong-arm methods" against the EV candidates, whilst a significant number of EV supporters were imprisoned. 1948 Upper Voltan Territorial Assembly election Territorial Assembly elections were held in French Upper Volta on 30 May 1948, with a second round on 20 June. They were the first elections to the new Territorial Assembly, which had been created following the separation of Upper Volta from Ivory Coast the previous year. The Territorial Assembly had 50 seats, with 10 elected by the First College (French citizens) and 40 by