The main opposition candidate in the recently held presidential elections in Burundi, Agathon Rwasa, is displeased with the country’s election results. He has filed a petition with the country’s constitutional court, disputing results published by its official election commission which declared the ruling CNDD-FDD party’s Evariste Ndayishimiye winner, on the basis of election fraud.
Following the hotly contested May 20 polls, the country’s election commission had on Monday announced the governing party’s candidate and party leader, General Evariste Ndayishimiye as the winner of the presidential elections with 69 per cent of votes cast. It also added that Rwasa who had run on a ticker from the opposing CNL had gotten 24 per cent of the votes. But a spokesman for his party said they believe Rwasa won with 57%. A total of seven candidates ran for the apex seat in the presidential race following outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to sit out the elections after a 15-year run in office.
Speaking to reporters after filing the petition in Bujumbura, Rwasa noted that several errors were committed across the country during the elections with no district or province spared. Among some of the irregular activities, Rwasa accused the electoral commission of enabling or orchestrating, was the stuffing of ballot boxes, allowing voters to vote with the identity of dead voters, exclusion of voters, as well as the intimidation of voters and election officials. “The announced results are false,” Rwasa said.
With seven days to deliberate, the constitutional court has until June 5 to reach a consensus. However, Rwasa also made it known that if the court did not rule in the party’s favour, they are ready to pursue the case to the East African Court of Justice in Arusha, Tanzania.
While international observers were limited as a result of the country’s 14-day quarantine requirement, according to the East African, the Catholic Church deployed 2,716 observers countrywide. Supporting Rwasa’s claim, the chairman of the Catholic Church Conference Burundi, Monseigneur Joachim Ntahondereye said, “There were many irregularities in terms of liberty and transparency as some voted on behalf of refugees, while others voted more than once.”
If the petition is rejected in Burundi, Ndayishimiye will be inaugurated in August for a seven-year term.
