Burundi ruling party on track to win controversial election

Poll follows weeks of violence, failed coup attempt and African Union refusal to send observers

Burundi election officials finished vote-counting yesterday, a day after internationally condemned polls boycotted by the opposition, with the ruling party expected to win a sweeping victory.

“The counting is completed in all the polling stations throughout Burundi,” election commission spokesman Prosper Ntahorwamiye said, with those votes now being collated and taken to larger centres for final tallies before results can be announced.

Voting on Monday was marked by grenade attacks, with the election commission claiming an “enormous” turnout despite many polling stations remaining quiet.

The poll followed weeks of violence and a failed coup attempt sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s defiant bid for a third term, with more than 70 people killed.

Almost four million people were registered to vote, but the opposition boycotted the polls, as they did in the last elections in 2010, claiming it was not possible to hold a fair vote. Almost 144,000 refugees have fled into neighbouring nations.

The only international observers were those of the UN, who said that their presence should not be “interpreted as a validation” of the process.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier called for the voting to be delayed, as Burundi faces its worst crisis since the end of its civil war nine years ago.

The African Union refused to send observers as it was not possible to hold “free, fair, transparent and credible elections.”

The European Union warned the polls would “only exacerbate the profound crisis”, while former colonial power Belgium said the polls were not credible and could “further divide the country.”

Ruling party campaign chief Willy Nyamitwe, who is also Nkurunziza’s head of communications, said he was “very satisfied”, adding that the “people responded massively and early.”

Provisional results of local elections were expected late yesterday or today, when parliamentary results are also likely due, according to the election commission spokesman, adding it was “impossible” to give turnout figures before results were fully compiled.