Bénéwendé Stanislas Sankara

Bénéwendé Stanislas Sankara (born February 23, 1959) is a Burkinabé politician who served as the President of the Union for Rebirth / Sankarist Party (UNIR/PS) party throughout its existence. From 2021 to 2023, he served as President of the newly formed Union for Rebirth / Patriotic Sankarist Movement (UNIR/MPS).

Life and career Sankara was born in Toéssin. He founded the UNIR/MS in November 2000 and was one of three UNIR/MS candidates elected to the National Assembly in the 2002 parliamentary election. In the National Assembly, he was elected to the Pan-African Parliament. In June 2005 he resigned from both the National Assembly and the Pan-African Parliament to focus on his candidacy in the presidential election later in the year.

In the May 2007 parliamentary election, Sankara was elected to the National Assembly. He was one of four UNIR/MS candidates to be elected, and the only one elected on the party's national list.

He was a candidate in the November 2010 presidential election, and stood again, after Compaoré was ousted, in the November 2015 presidential election (4th place with 2,77% of votes). He was also elected to the National Assembly in the concurrent parliamentary election as a candidate on the UNIR/PS national list, and on 12 January 2016 he was elected as First Vice-President of the National Assembly.

The UNIR/PS merged into the newly formed Union for Rebirth/Patriotic Sankarist Movement in 2021. Sankara went on to lead this party until January 2023.