Reuters/Bujumbura
Burundians voted yesterday for a new parliament after a night of sporadic blasts and gunshots and weeks of violent protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s attempt to win a third term in office.
Voting appeared slow in several districts for an election boycotted by the opposition and condemned by African and European nations as lacking the conditions to ensure it was fair. “We don’t see many people,” one diplomat said.
The European Union, a major donor, yesterday threatened to withhold more funds to the aid-reliant nation after Burundi ignored UN and African calls for a postponement of the parliamentary vote and a presidential election on July 15.
Opponents say the president’s bid to stand again violates the constitution. But the government has pressed on with the election schedule while the country goes through its worst political crisis since an ethnically-charged civil war ended in 2005.
Aimable Niyonkuru, 20, once a supporter of Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD party, said he would not vote because the president had not improved the economy or delivered on other promises.
“I am really disappointed about what all politicians are doing,” he said.
Dozens of people queued at a polling station in one Bujumbura district. But in areas that have seen the most unrest against the president, there was little sign of an election.
Nkurunziza, a rebel commander-turned-president who has built a powerbase mostly in rural areas with a down-to-earth style, cycled from his village in north Burundi to vote at a nearby polling station, one witness said.
Almost 140,000 people, or more than 1% of the 10mn population, have fled across the country’s borders, causing concern in a region with a history of ethnic conflict, particularly in neighbouring Rwanda which saw genocide in 1994.
A presidential spokesman said voting was proceeding smoothly and African and European states could not judge the process before it was completed. He said any further delay in the votes was “out of the question”.
The president cites a court ruling saying he is permitted to run for a third term and has refused to back down. Dozens have died in the unrest since he said in April he would run again.
Sounds of shooting and at least two explosions were heard overnight in the capital Bujumbura.
Another witness reported a second blast in Bujumbura’s Musaga district yesterday morning.
The private Iwacu newspaper website cited police saying two grenades exploded in Mayuyu district 25km southeast of the capital. A police spokesman could not be reached for comment.
The EU, European nations and the US have already halted some funds, including support for the elections. European states together fund about half Burundi’s annual budget.
“The organisation of legislative elections on June 29 without establishing the minimum requirements to ensure their credibility, transparency and inclusiveness, can only exacerbate the deep crisis in Burundi,” the European Union said.
Critics have said basic requirements for a fair poll mean ensuring the media operates freely and that the ruling party’s Imbonerakure youth wing and other groups are disarmed. The CNDD-FDD dismisses charges its youths are armed.
Burundians queue at a polling station to vote in parliamentary elections in Bujumbura yesterday.
