Days after its keenly contested general elections, the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) in Burundi has declared the governing party’s candidate, Evariste Ndayishimiye, the winner of the country’s presidential election amid accusations of rigging by the leading opposition challenger.
The Commission announced the result on Monday, revealing that Ndayishimiye, a retired army general, won 69 percent of the votes in last week’s ballot, while Agathon Rwasa, the main opposition leader, received 24 percent with a turnout of 88 percent.
Appealing to voters and observers who were “getting impatient”, the head of the electoral commission, Pierre-Claver Kazihise, called on candidates and observers to disregard initial result numbers making rounds on the internet, stating that the process of collection and tallying was cumbersome and would take time.
“The intermediate figures from polling stations do not show anything. It is the official results declared after the count at the commune level that must be communicated to the people,” he said.
Opposition Makes Fraud Allegations After Claiming Early Victory
Going against the Commission’s suggestion to dismiss early numbers, Agathon Rwasa, had claimed early victory in the polls, telling Voice of America’s Central African service that information reaching him from the party’s polling observers suggest a win for him and other members of the party.
“The trend is that CNL is leading in presidential, parliamentary, and even in communal elections in general,” Rwasa said.
Meanwhile, both Rwasa and his party have accused the ruling party and government of interfering with the elections with Rwasa accusing the police and security officers of working under specific orders to target opposition members with some being arrested and given hurried sentences.
Speaking on behalf of the party, Terence Manirambona, supported Rwasa’s initial statement, saying: “We are going to go through the appropriate channels to demand that the vote be recounted. We have a lot of facts that undeniably demonstrate that the results announced by CENI do not reflect the will of the people.”
Manirambona had spoken to Reutersin an earlier interview saying, “The voting was marred with several irregularities: arrests of over 200 CNL (observers), intimidation, people who voted several times or under the names of dead ones, refugees or prisoners.”
Before the elections, the BBC reported that Burundi had shut down access to the internet especially platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.
