Inside Africa: The Burundi Election in Turmoil
Burundi’s president Pierre Nkurunziza has led the country for about 15 years. His third - and possibly final - term is set to end this August. His successor, Evariste Ndayishimiye, is expected to take office then, allowing Nkurunziza to step down and move to a new luxury villa with a generous stipend to settle down with. However, outcries over the legitimacy of the May 20 election in which Ndayishimiye defeated his opponents with more than 68% of the vote have raised some concerns both among the Burundi people and other countries and organizations observing the election from a distance. The leading opposition candidate, Agathon Rwasa, lost in an election he and his supporters consider having been marred by voter fraud and alleged intimidation tactics at the polling locations. He is taking the issue to the courts where he is challenging the election results, though without much hope that things will change.
Rwasa, the National Congress for Liberty (CNL) candidate in the race, lost with about 24% of the vote on election day, other candidates fell behind him, but he claims that voter fraud, people voting more than once and other problems at the election booths allowed the ruling party, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), to remain in power with Nkurunziza’s hand-picked successor. The party also keeps a strong grip in parliament with 72 of the 100 seats. The CNL received only 27. It is the first democratic transfer of power in the country in decades, but CNL has claimed foul-play, and they are looking to the courts to contest the results. If the Constitutional Court does not support Rwasa, he plans on taking the matter to the East Africa court.
The Burundi Catholic Church also finds problems with the election. President of the Burundi Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Joachim Ntahondereye “denounced” the results due to issues with transparency in the electoral process and unfair treatment of the opposition party candidates. Similar to Rwasa’s claims, the bishop calls attention to alleged intrusion of unauthorized persons in the polling locations as officials counted the ballots, intimidation of these officials and more in the “long list of irregularities” surrounding the May 20 election. The Catholic Church is the largest in the small country with approximately 11 million followers. The church also sent out observers to polls, even if there were not enough to cover all the polls.
Even leading up to election day, there was cause for concern. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry issued a statement days before the May 20 election describing its alarm relating increased political intolerance and several acts of violence prior to the election. It alleged that CNL members were arrested while CNDD-FDD roamed free, even after committing such violent acts described in the UN statement. With that, the UN Commission urged Burundi to take steps to try to put an end to the cycle of violence the country is already familiar with. The events before the election, along with Rwasa’s objections to the results, could be expected to lead to greater political unrest in the near future.
Conflict surrounding Burundi elections is not a new concept to those involved. Some argue that the Constitutional Courts are not entirely separate from the Burundi government and Nkurunziza used them to secure a controversial third term beginning in 2015. While the president claimed that he qualified for a third term because he was not elected by the general public for his first term, the country descended into chaos. Over 1,000 died and 400,000 fled the country during the political unrest that followed. Nkurunziza’s opponents felt the move was unconstitutional, but the court ruled in his favor. His presidency began in 2005 following a long civil war in which both Nkurunziza and Ndayishimiye were senior commanders in the Hutu militias against the Tutsi army. His appointment was a part of the peace deal to end the long-standing Hutu-Tutsi conflict in the region.
In the early 1990s, the civil war started when the president, the first elected by the Hutu-majority in a Tutsi-minority led country, was killed by Tutsi troops. Like its northern neighbor Rwanda, Burundi had a long history of Tutsi domination in politics, business and military. The war ended in 2005 and left 300,000 dead. A new government and peace deal in 2001 set the government up to adopt a new Constitution in 2005 which included presidential term limits and the right to representation in government for both Hutus and Tutsis. CNDD-FDD, the Hutu-led political party, has held the power since then. CNL also is Hutu-led, targets the same demographics, but it was established in February 2019 in order to oppose CNDD-FDD and the abuse of power allegations against it, according to a Human Rights Watch report.
Rwasa had always been a leader in the opposition against CNDD-FDD. He and his supporters boycotted the 2010 election, accusing the ruling party of having too much power in government, though no one could run against CNDD-FDD as an independent. After years of killings, beatings and intimidation, Rwasa was able to register CNL so that he could run in the 2020 presidential election against a president who had raised many red flags with the Human Rights Watch.
The contentious election occurred in 2015, ending his second term in office. The Constitution limited the president to one five-year term renewal. When he announced that he qualified to run for a third term because he was not elected by the public, the country turned violent once again, sending the country into an economic tailspin that it has not truly recovered from.
Should Ndayishimiye be inaugurated in August, he will not only have to lift the country in the midst of the political unrest, he has the economy to work on. Global Finance ranks Burundi as the poorest country in the world, reflecting the 2018 currency exchange rate. It cites the Hutu-Tutsi conflict and the controversy surrounding Nkurunziza’s third term hurt added to the international pressure. The European Union pulled its funding to encourage the country's leaders to resolve the crisis. It contributed to a recession, trade with Burundi’s neighbor, Rwanda, was halted because of concerns over food security and coffee production, the country’s main export, is down as well. More than 80% of Burundians live on $1.25 or less each day. Its main industry is agriculture, which is a volatile market already.
The Constitution was amended to extend the five-year terms to seven years, which caused some to worry that Nkurunziza would try to run again in 2020, though he announced that he considered Ndayishimiye his heir and he was ready to take on the title of “Supreme Guide” while his successor take over.
