Polling stations open in Burundi

2005-07-04 09:02

Bujumbura - Burundians went to the polls on Monday in the second of a series of elections, with former Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) rebels tipped to win the first parliamentary poll since 1993 after sweeping last month's local elections.

Polling stations opened at 06:00 and were due to close at 16:00.

Monday's elections will see some 3 704 candidates from 25 political parties, of which six are former rebel groups, as well as 15 independents battle it out in the country's 100 constituencies.

The elections will be crucial in determining both the majority in the country's parliament and the eventual selection of Burundi's first post-transitional president on August 19.

"It is the most important step in the on-going electoral process because the party with a majority of seats will control the national assembly for the next five years," said Charles Ndayiziga, head of the Centre for Conflict Resolution and Prevention (Cenap).

"But more so because it will control more than two-thirds of the senators and legislators who will select the next president," he added.

Accepting the results

Carolyn McAskie, head of the United Nations mission in Burundi (Onub,) has called on Burundi's political parties to accept the results of the elections. >"In politics there are winners and losers," she said.

The selection of the president by both houses of parliament will be the culmination of an electoral process that began with the June 3 municipal polls.

The members of the lower house of parliament elected on Monday will be joined by senators picked by municipal councillors on July 29.

The FDD can already be sure of a majority in the upper house following its victory in the municipal elections, which it won with 57% of the vote.

The FDD is Burundi's former main Hutu rebel group which renounced armed struggle to push for representation in the army. It joined the transitional government, where power is equally shared between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, in November 2003.

Elections peaceful despite tension

All of Burundi's former rebels groups are now part of the transitional government with the exception of the National Liberation Forces (FNL), which have continued to carry out armed raids in and around the capital Bujumbura despite having agreed a truce with the government in May.

The election campaign has been peaceful despite continued tension between the government and the FNL rebels.

Under Burundi's new constitution overwhelmingly endorsed in February, the National Assembly will comprise 60% Hutus and 40% Tutsis, who will lose the dominant position they have enjoyed since independence from Belgium in 1962. Hutus make up 85% of the population and Tutsis 15%.

In the event the ethnic balance is not achieved after Monday's vote, the electoral panel will co-opt legislators from the under-represented community to redress the imbalance.

- AFP