Burundians have gone to the polls on Thursday in a vote for the 123-seat National Legislative Assembly. This election is seen as a test of Evariste Ndayishimiye’s presidency.
Ndayishimiye has been the president of Burundi since the 2020 election. He secured the leadership of the ruling party CNDD-FDD after the death of previous president Pierre Nkurunziza.
Despite being credited for ending Burundi’s long period of isolationism, Ndayishimiye has been criticised for his poor human rights record. This election has been tightly controlled by the government as according to one commentator the government is taking no chances.
The opposition has been constrained with popular opposition leader Agathon Rwasa being ousted while abroad in 2023. There have been multiple accusations that this was due to a government backed internal party coup d’etat.
Many other opposition leaders have been banned from running in the election with rival parties constrained. Gabriel Banzawitonde, leader of the APDR, the alliance pour la paix la démocratie et la réconciliation, stated that “people are so intimidated that they tell you that you cannot wear any party colours other than the ruling party ones”.
Human rights observers have criticised the high-level of intimidation that voters have experienced particularly from the violent CNDD-FDD student organisation
There remain several widespread issues within Burundi including, rising inflation to around 40%, chronic shortages in essentials like oil, and large levels of poverty at around 66%. This has led to growing popular dissatisfaction within the country.
Despite this Ndayishimiye’s party is almost certain to win the presidential election. While casting his ballot in Gitega province the president made a statement “the population is driven by patriotic spirit, democracy is rooted in Burundi.” The president argued that the high voter turnout was a positive sign, but this might not be the case as one man stated that he was scared because “some officials check if you have voted.”
This election demonstrates clearly that Burundi is still an African one-party authoritarian dictatorship under President Ndayishimiye.
