With Compaore alone at the helm, a democratic constitution was approved by vote in 1991. In December 1991, Compaore was elected president, running unopposed after the opposition boycotted the election. The opposition did participate in the following year's legislative elections, in which the ruling party won a majority of seats.

The government of the Fourth Republic includes a strong presidency, a prime minister, a Council of Ministers presided over by the president, a unicameral National Assembly, and the judiciary. The legislature and judiciary are nominally independent but remain susceptible to administrator determine.

Burkina held multiparty municipal elections in 1995 and 2000 and legislative elections in 1997 and 2002. Balloting was considered largely free and fair in all elections. The Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP), the governing party, won overwhelming majorities in all the elections until the 2002 legislative election, where the CDP won with a small majority of the 111 seats. The opposition made large gains in the 2002 elections.

The current cabinet is controlled by Compaore and the CDP. Given the fragile roots of democratic institutions, constitutional checks and balances are seldom effective in practice. The constitution was amended in 2000 to limit the President to a 5-year term, renewable once, beginning with the next presidential election in 2005. The amendment is controversial because it did not make any mention of retroactivity, meaning that President Compaore's eligibility to present himself is still a matter of debate. Most observers believe that the 2005 Presidential election will be a test of Burkina Faso's commitment to democracy, but the traditionally separated opposition also will have to come together and present a united front if it hopes to present a challenge to the ruling party.