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Vote count under way in controversial Burundi’s poll

By Editor
22 July 2015   |   11:56 pm
POLLING stations have closed and votes have started to be counted in Burundi’s controversial presidential elections, in which incumbent Pierre Nkurunziza is widely expected to win a third consecutive term. Ballots continue to be tallied yesterday, but officials have said that they do not expect the results to be announced until today. Shortly before voting…
Pierre Nkurunziza

Pierre Nkurunziza

POLLING stations have closed and votes have started to be counted in Burundi’s controversial presidential elections, in which incumbent Pierre Nkurunziza is widely expected to win a third consecutive term.

Ballots continue to be tallied yesterday, but officials have said that they do not expect the results to be announced until today.

Shortly before voting started on Tuesday, a policeman and a civilian were killed amid a string of explosions and gunfire in the capital Bujumbura, the epicentre of three months of anti-government protests. 

Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa, reporting from Bujumbura, said that one member of the opposition was also killed overnight in the city’s Nyakabiga neighbourhood. The incident prompted a big crowd to gather there in protest in the morning.

The body was removed on Tuesday, several hours after the incident. But the crowd who were boycotting the elections still stayed on at the incident spot, with riot police mobilised near them keeping a safe distance.

About 3.8 million Burundians were eligible to vote in the polls, which the opposition and civil society groups are boycotting, claiming they will not be free and fair.

Electoral Commission president Pierre-Claver Ndayicariye said turnout was low in Bujumbura and southwestern Bururi province, but gave an overall figure of 74 percent, comparable to that of last month’s general elections.

The opposition has denounced the candidacy of the incumbent president as unconstitutional and a violation of the 2006 peace deal that ended a dozen years of civil war and ethnic massacres in 2006.

A spokesman for the U.S. said the elections lacked credibility and by pressing ahead, the government risked its “legitimacy”.
State department spokesman John Kirby said, the vote “will further discredit the government”. 

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