The United Nations says over 170,000 people have fled to neighboring countries ahead of the vote in fear of violence, with which Burundi is sadly familiar, having hosted four coups and a deadly civil war since its independence from Belgium in 1961.
Advertisement
Ballots will continue to be tallied on Wednesday, and vote results are expected by the end of Thursday.
Residents in Nyakabiga district, where the civilian’s body was discovered, identified the man as an official in the opposition MSD party and accused the government of killing him.
Electoral Commission president Pierre-Claver Ndayicariye said around 74 percent of the country’s 3.8 million registered voters cast their ballot, comparable to last month’s general elections, despite a boycott from opposition lawmakers.
At least two people were killed as blast and gunfire echoed around different neighborhoods of the capital, Bujumbura, before polls opened on Tuesday.
Opponents say the president’s re-election bid is undermining a peace deal that ended a civil war that pitted rebel groups of the ethnic Hutu majority, including one led by Nkurunziza, against the army, led at the time by the Tutsi minority.
Western donors and African states, worried about tensions in a region with a history of ethnic conflict, urged Burundi to postpone the poll.
The US State Department has joined critics saying the election lacks credibility.
Among the few people who voted in opposition areas of the capital, Bujumbura, many tried to wipe off the indelible ink on their fingers fearing reprisals from opposition supporters. “The elections are just a masquerade because only one party is competing”, he said.
In Bujumbura, Emery Ndayizere, 30, said there was no point voting.
The strife triggered an attempted military coup in mid-May that was quickly put down by pro-Nkurunziza forces.
Opposition and civil society groups have denounced Nkurunziza’s candidacy as unconstitutional, while worldwide observers have said the elections are not free and fair.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Monday around 1,000 people were fleeing each day into Tanzania, crossing the border “through the forest… many travelling in the dark on foot and without belongings”. After that failed they launched a rebellion in the north of the country.
Poor and landlocked, Burundi is in the heart of central Africa’s troubled Great Lakes region.
“The outcome of these elections will be void”, Jean Minani, one of the opposition presidential candidates, said before the vote, speaking with other candidates joining the boycott.
Advertisement
The presidential election is likely to be seen in the same light, diplomats said, meaning Nkurunziza – whose nation is heavily aid-dependent – will probably also face worldwide isolation.
