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Bujumbura — Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has won a predicted but controversial third consecutive term in office, according to official election results announced yesterday.
Nkurunziza won 69.41 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s vote, handing him an immediate first-round victory, the election commission said.
Nkurunziza’s candidacy was denounced as unconstitutional by the opposition and provoked months of protests and an attempted coup in the central African nation.
Although eight candidates were on the ballot paper for the presidential polls, most withdrew from the race, with the closure of most independent media preventing them from campaigning.
Anti-Nkurunziza protests have been violently repressed, leaving at least 100 people dead since late April. Many opponents have also fled — joining an exodus of more than 150,000 ordinary Burundians who fear their country may again be engulfed by widespread violence.
In mid-May, rebel generals attempted to overthrow Nkurunziza in a coup, which failed. They have since launched a rebellion in the north of the country.
In the latest in a string of attacks, four people were wounded in a grenade attack overnight on Thursday on the house of an official from Nkurunziza’s ruling CNDD-FDD party.
The government has dismissed criticism of the poll, which the United States, European Union and former colonial power Belgium said lacked credibility.
Meanwhile, Burundian security forces crushed anti-government demonstrations, including shooting protesters running away from them, to silence those opposed to Nkurunziza bid for a third-term, a rights group said on Thursday.
“Burundian authorities sought not just to disperse demonstrations, but to punish protesters for expressing their political views,” Amnesty International said in a report, titled “Braving Bullets”.
“They used excessive and disproportionate force, including lethal force, against protesters, at times shooting unarmed protesters running away from them,” added the report released in Nairobi.
Anti-Nkurunziza protests have been violently repressed, leaving at least 100 people dead since late April.
Amnesty said that security forces had treated all protesters as part of a rebellion, worsening the situation.
“Treating largely peaceful demonstrators and entire residential areas as if they were part of an insurrection was counter-productive and escalated protests rather than defusing them,” the report added.
It did however note that some protesters were also violent, including killing a pro-government supporter.
The 51-year-old president – a former rebel, born-again Christian and football fanatic — faced no serious competition in the polls, but critics say a win by the incumbent will be a hollow victory, leaving him ruling over a deeply divided nation. – AFP
Online Reporter