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| - Burkina Faso will vote in a presidential election on Sunday in which the incumbent Roch Marc Christian Kabore is aiming to stave off challenges from 12 opposition candidates. The two main challengers are veteran opposition leader Zephirin Diabre and Eddie Komboigo, standing for the party of ousted strongman Blaise Compaore. Diabre, who came in second to Kabore in 2015 with nearly 30 percent of the vote, has 33 supporters in parliament, but he has failed to rally the opposition around him this time. The 61-year-old, a trained economist who was several times a minister in Compaore's government, "remains the only one with the power truly to save Burkina Faso from its thousand ills," said party activist Amadou Ouedraogo. As a former Africa chief for French nuclear group Areva and former deputy director general of the UN Development Programme, Diabre is "a high-flying intellectual" and "a hard worker", according to professor of political science Drissa Traore. But Diabre's "inability to reconcile" the numerous opponents of Kabore -- who is under heavy criticism for his handling of the country's security crisis --- has "strongly weakened his chances" of becoming head of state, Traore added. Diabre also has to beat a rival opposition candidate from Compaore's Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party, which was barred from 2015's election. The CDP has capitalised on nostalgia for the former regime, whose downfall roughly coincided with the country's growing jihadist insurgency. Komboigo, an 56-year-old accountant who is the current CDP president and is reputed to have amassed a colossal personal fortune, will likely come in third place, according to observers. After an intensive campaign on the ground -- three rallies a day when his rivals held one -- Komboigo is seeking to rehabilitate Compaore's legacy. The former president's face has often figured as large on campaign posters as Komboigo's own. "The CDP is back, mobilising and creating fear. But don't be afraid because the CDP is not here for vengeance," Komboigo told a crowd of supporters. "It wants to build the hope of a nation, a better tomorrow and the development of Burkina Faso." He is a close friend of General Gilbert Diendiere, Compaore's former righthand man who played a prominent role in a foiled coup in 2015. While Kabore is aiming to win more than 50 percent of the vote on Sunday to avoid a second round, his rivals hope a run-off election would allow the opposition to unite. Diabre told AFP during the campaign that an "agreement has been signed by all the opposition parties to support whoever is best placed." Apart from Diabre and Komboigo, 10 other opposition candidates are standing against Kabore. ab-ah/de/nb/dl
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