Burundi ruling party sure of win in election as 10,000 flee

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza queues at a polling station in Mwumba, Ngozi province, during the parliamentary and local elections on June 29, 2015. PHOTO | LANDRY NSHIMIYE |

What you need to know:

  • Voting was marked by grenade attacks, but the election commission claimed success.
  • Ballot followed weeks of violence and a failed coup attempt sparked by leader’s controversial third term bid.

BUJUMBURA

Burundi election officials finished vote-counting on Tuesday, a day after internationally condemned polls boycotted by the opposition, with the ruling party expected to win a sweeping victory.

“The counting is completed in all the polling stations throughout Burundi,” election commission spokesman Prosper Ntahorwamiye told AFP, with those votes now being collated and taken to larger centres for final tallies before results can be announced.

Voting on Monday was marked by grenade attacks, with the election commission claiming an “enormous” turnout despite many polling stations remaining quiet.

The poll followed weeks of violence and a failed coup attempt sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s defiant bid for a third term, with more than 70 people killed.

The only international observers were those of the UN, who said that their presence should not be “interpreted as a validation” of the process.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier called for the voting to be delayed, as Burundi faces its worst crisis since the end of its civil war nine years ago. The African Union refused to send observers as it was not possible to hold “free, fair, transparent and credible elections.”

Meanwhile, nearly 10,000 Burundians fled the country over the weekend before Burundi closed its borders ahead of the controversial and violence-wracked elections, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Since Burundi’s political turmoil began in April, some 144,000 people have fled the country, with the numbers surging towards the end of last week, the UN refugee agency said.

“The pace this weekend spiked… We saw over the weekend 10,000 more Burundians fleeing the country,” UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva. More than 6,000 had arrived in neighbouring Tanzania alone over the two-day period, bringing the total there to around 66,600.

Another 56,500 are in Rwanda, 11,500 in Democratic Republic of Congo and more than 9,000 in Uganda, UNHCR said. Burundian officials closed the borders late Sunday ahead of Monday’s controversial parliamentary polls — something they claim is common practice during elections.

“Over the last 48 hours, refugees and people trying to flee have been resorting to trying to cross informal border crossings through the forest to leave the country,” Fleming said. People arriving in neighbouring countries have told aid workers that roads are being blocked and that people suspected of heading to the border are being forced off buses, she said.