Ex-rebel group wins election

2005-07-05 22:33

Bujumbura - Burundi's main Hutu ex-rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), has won a comfortable victory in this week's legislative elections, taking 58.23% of the vote, according to figures obtained by the United Nations mission to the country.

In second place, with all votes counted, was its chief Hutu-led rival, President Domitien Ndayizeye's Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU), with 22.33% according to a document from the UN mission ONUB seen by AFP.

The chief Tutsi party, UPRONA, scored 7.3%.

Turnout was 73.78% compared with 80% in local elections held last month.

The general election was the first since the outbreak of civil war in 1993 which lasted 12 years and cost about 300 000 lives in a conflict between the majority (85%) Hutu and minority (15%) Tutsi communities.

The official announcement of the results will be the responsibility of the national electoral board CENI.

In an early reaction former president Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, said Tutsis should not necessarily be worried by the outcome.

"I think we have to wait and judge the FDD on its acts," he said.

"We have to accept the results of democratic elections, we have to avoid ringing the bells of fear and we must trust those who won."

There was no immediate indication of how the vote would translate into seats in the parliament.

But it appears likely that only five of the parties that contested the election will have won enough votes to secure representation in the national assembly.

Under Burundi's constitution, overwhelmingly approved in a February referendum, the new government will be formed by all parties that have won at least five percent of the votes cast in parliamentary elections.

In addition, the government will have a 60-40 split between the majority Hutu and the minority Tutsis.

The FDD pledged to work with other parties as the country prepares for the first post-transitional government.

- AFP