As election day dawns in Burundi conflict still rages with the head of Burundi’s parliament, Pie Ntavyohanyuma, fleeing the country on the eve of the key elections denouncing the president’s “illegal” third term bid.
After months of conflict and over 70 deaths – the latest being three people killed in gunfire and grenade blast on Saturday 28th June, the elections are happening amidst international and local critism. Pie Ntavyohanyuma spoke to France 24 “For the moment, I am forced to stay in Brussels… I stayed here given the difficulties in my country, difficulties which are due to the illegal third mandate of the president,” He told the agency “I would like to say to him [Nkurunziza] that the mandate he wants to have is illegal. I would like to say to him that forcing through the election is senseless.” “I personally advised President Nkurunziza to drop his plan for a third term, but his answer was to threaten me, to humiliate me,” he added.
The African Union announced Sunday it would not act as an observer in the parliamentary polls, “Noting that the necessary conditions are not met for the organisation of free, fair, transparent and credible elections… the AU Commission will not observe the local and parliamentary elections,” commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concerns about the Government’s insistence on going ahead with elections on 29 June despite the prevailing political and security environment in the country and he had previously called for the elections to be delayed. A statement issued on Sunday read “The Secretary-General reiterates his appeal to all Burundian political leaders to consider the wider interest of the people of their country and to resolve political issues through dialogue in order to preserve peace and strengthen national reconciliation. Condemning recent attacks reported in the country, he appeals to all Burundians to refrain from violent acts, in line with the Charter of Non-Violence agreed by all parties.”
As opposition declared a boycott of the elections, the election commission chief Pierre-Claver Ndayicariye told reporters “Everything is ready in the country,” Sunday, saying all voting material had been delivered to the polling centres across the country.