Burundi Opposition leaders want President Pierre Nkurunziza to step down or withdraw from his third term bid in the separate upcoming presidential elections, Claiming that it violates the country’s constitution and the Arusha Accords, a peace deal that ended the ethnic civil war and established the foundation for Burundi’s Post-conflict recovery.
According to Voanews, the UN refugee agency has stated that thousand so of Burundians continue to flee political instability and the violence. About ten thousand refugees had crossed into neighboring countries over the weekend before the government closed the borders due to parliamentary elections.
President Nkurunziza supporters, on the other hand, argue that the president’s first term should be discounted as he was chosen by parliament and not by the people in an election as is specified in the agreement.
While there is little doubt about the outcome that has been given by the opposition, the presidential adviser Will Nyamitwe stated that the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party expects a landslide victory in the legislative elections.
The CNDD-FDD currently dominates the outgoing parliament with 81 of the 106 seats.
Nyamitwe added that the elections had gone well, without any major incidents across the whole country. The opposition had announced a boycott verbally, but unfortunately for them, it did not happen and the members of the opposition voted, and some of them had even been elected.
The presidency welcomed estimation turnout figures that were superior to 89% given the electoral commission CENI. While there had been reports of violence at a number of the polling stations, images that allegedly portrayed electors washing their hands using indelible ink applied to the forefinger of voters during the elections in order to avoid electoral fraud such as double voting-also spread on social media.
The opposition claims that the contested presidential elections should be held on 30 July, two weeks after initially planned with the second round on the 15 August.
