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Burundi: What if the electoral process is damaged

By on June 24, 2010
Burundi will hold its presidential elections Monday June 28. So the Burundians are supposed to take part in the second summer-long series of national and local elections.

The first of these polls, the municipal elections was praised by the E.U observers as “generally meeting international standards”, but not the opposition parties that immediately, after the results of the municipal polls were announced, cried foul and called the results impossible. They have declared that the upcoming poll would be boycotted.
Current President Pierre Nkurunziza is now guaranteed victory as the sole candidate on the ballot while fresh incidents of violence have significantly increased tension in the central African nation. Confrontations between police and the Forces of National Liberation have been reported by the media; and while no groups have claimed responsibility for the attacks, both opposition and ruling parties have accused each other of the building up violence.
The tension has also affected the media, which enjoyed relative freedom before the polls, but the government has been eager to limit press freedom in light of the election controversies, “controlling what is said and what is done”.
Two legislative elections will then be held July 23 and 28, followed by village elections on September 7. If unsuccessful, the country could see a return to the violence experienced during the civil war, in which many of the current political parties fought as armed factions. Let us again hope that the opposition withdrawal from the presidential election has not damaged the electoral process.

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