Burundi Elections Postponed

Last month on the Free Fire blog we spoke about the upcoming elections in Burundi and the growing international calls to postpone the elections due to political instability and violence in the nation, primarily orchestrated by the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party. The current President, Pierre Nkurunziza, announced plans to run for an unprecedented third term. Many see such a move as unconstitutional, though Burundi’s constitutional court has recently ruled that President Nkurunziza can constitutionally run for a third term. As a result, Burundi has seen intense unrest, leading to dozens of deaths as security forces clash with protestors.

As of Tuesday, President Pierre Nkurunziza has officially delayed the presidental election in Burundi to July 15th and the legislative elections to June 29th. An electoral commission last week had suggested delaying elections to late June as well. The opposition parties had boycotted the electoral commission, upset over the fact that all three members of the commission were Hutus; normally the electoral commission consists of five members of different ethnic backgrounds. Opposition spokesmen have also claimed that President Nkurunziza is attempting to force the vote, as currently independent media has been shut down and many opposition voters have fled the country. The opposition coalition is made up of 17 different political parties, all of whom have agreed to boycott the elections later this month.

Nkurunziza has continually been accused of attempting to subvert the democratic process in Burundi for his own ends, and last month’s attempted coup speaks ill of Nkurunziza’s ability to maintain control of Burundi for long. Nor are the alternatives to Nkurunziza’s any better for supporters of representative government in Burundi; the main opposition leader in Burundi, Agathon Rwasa, was a Hutu militia leader during Burundi’s civil war and commander of the infamous National Liberation Forces (FNL). The FNL were responsible for multiple massacres of non-Hutus during the conflict, and are accused of continuing to perform terrorist attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo even today.