Presidential elections were held in the Republic of Upper Volta

Republic of Upper Volta

The Republic of Upper Volta was established on December 11, 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Before attaining autonomy it had been French Upper Volta and part of the French Union. On August 5, 1960 it attained full independence from France.Thomas Sankara came to power...

 on 14 May 1978, with a second round on 28 May after no candidate won more than 50% in the first round. The result was a victory for independent candidate Sangoulé Lamizana

Sangoulé Lamizana

Major General Aboubakar Sangoulé Lamizana was the second president of Upper Volta , in power from January 3, 1966 to November 25, 1980...

 (backed by the Voltaic Democratic Union-African Democratic Rally), who won 56.3% of votes in the second round. Voter turnout was 35.2% in the first round and 43.6% in the second.

Results

Candidate	Party	First round		Second round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Sangoulé Lamizana Sangoulé Lamizana Major General Aboubakar Sangoulé Lamizana was the second president of Upper Volta , in power from January 3, 1966 to November 25, 1980...	Independent	425,302	42.2	711,722	56.3
Macaire Ouédraogo	National Union for the Defence of Democracy	254,467	25.2	552,954	43.7
Joseph Ouédraogo Joseph Ouédraogo Joseph Ouédraogo was a Burkinabè trade unionist politician, active during the last years of the French Upper Volta and subsequently in the Republic of Upper Volta....	Rejectors Front-African Democratic Rally	167,120	16.6
Joseph Ki-Zerbo Joseph Ki-Zerbo Joseph Ki-Zerbo was a Burkinabé politician and writer. He spent his youth in Toma where he grew up in a rural context inside a big family. Ki-Zerbo himself declared that his first 11 years passed in a rural context marked his personality and thoughts. He was recognized as one of Africa’s foremost...	Voltaic Progressive Union	162,031	16.1
Invalid/blank votes		19,695
18,870
Total		1,028,653	100	1,283,546	100
Source: Nohlen et al