Parties backing the president in Burkina Faso on Tuesday called for "respect of the results" of the presidential and parliamentary elections after the opposition threatened to reject them.

The Alliance of Parties in the Presidential Majority (APMP) urged all parties to respect the outcome of Sunday's poll in the west African country, lawyer Benewende Sankara told journalists in Ouagadougou.

Sankara also asked the candidates to take up any challenges they had with "the appropriate structures" if they should challenge the vote.

An electoral commission official counts votes during vote counting at a polling station during Burkina Faso's presidential and legislative elections, on November 22, 2020 in Ouagadougou
An electoral commission official counts votes during vote counting at a polling station during Burkina Faso's presidential and legislative elections, on November 22, 2020 in Ouagadougou AFP / OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT

When the electoral commission began releasing the initial results of the poll on Monday, opposition parties said the presidential and parliamentary figures were "studded with fraud" and threatened "not to accept results marred by irregularities".

The day before the election, the opposition had already said that "massive fraud" was being prepared, filing a legal case against persons unknown.

Specific opposition complaints were the late opening or failure to open of some polling stations, the unprotected transport of ballot boxes, the lack of sufficient material and personnel in charge of the vote, and what they said were arbitrary changes in the mapping of polling stations.

An electoral commission official holds a ballot paper during vote counting at a polling station during Burkina Faso's presidential and legislative elections, on November 22, 2020 in Ouagadougou
An electoral commission official holds a ballot paper during vote counting at a polling station during Burkina Faso's presidential and legislative elections, on November 22, 2020 in Ouagadougou AFP / OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT

But in his remarks Tuesday, Sankara responded: "The APMP considers that the flaws and insufficiencies that marred the voting process can in no way reflect any kind of intention to undermine the sincerity of the election.

"The flaws reported are prejudicial to all the competing candidates and political parties and to each in the same way.

"The reported failings, while regrettable, are not on a scale to have a significant impact on the result of the vote," he added.

The presidential clan has promised a first-round victory for the incumbent President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, as in 2015, in an election that was considered to be the most open race in Burkina's history, which has also seen multiple coups.

Kabore would thus avoid a second round of voting in which he would stand against a single candidate backed by a united opposition.

Security was tight for Sunday's vote across a nation living its darkest hours since independence because of attacks by jihadist groups that have killed at least 1,200 people over five years.

Because of the unrest, the election was not held across at least one-fifth of the territory.