Bishops in Burundi Denounce Recent General Elections, Highlight “many irregularities”

On Monday, the Electoral Commission of Burundi declared Evariste Ndayishimiye, a candidate of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy–Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), the winner of the presidential election, having received 68.72 percent of the votes, more than double the opposition’s leader, Agathon Rwasa, who garnered 24.19 percent.

The opposition party, the National Council for Liberty (CNL), called the process “an electoral masquerade” and promised to appeal to the Constitutional Court this week. If the opposition’s appeal is rejected, Ndayishimiye will be sworn into office in August, according to country’s constitution.

During the elections, the Catholic Church deployed 2,716 observers to monitor the polling stations. While the number of observers was fewer than the number of stations, they were able to analyze polling stations in all of Burundi’s 119 municipalities.

“In the face of these and other irregularities, we wonder whether they do not undermine the (final) results to be proclaimed by the Constitutional Court on 4 June,” probe the members of CECAB in their collective statement.

The Catholic Bishops in Burundi also call for calm and recommend all those who feel that their rights have been violated to privilege authorized ways to be restored to their rights.

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“We condemn all injustices as much as we refuse any recourse to the path of violence,” the Prelates say.

They add, “We recommend that the public authorities punish all those who, after the vote, persecute their neighbors or discourage those who might be tempted to torment them for demonstrating political tendencies different from their own.”

“From the moment when the law had allowed several candidates to take part in the campaign, every citizen had the right to express his or her preference for the candidate of his or her choice,” they observe.

Meanwhile, the electoral commission chief Pierre Claver Kazihise said, Thursday, he was “surprised” by CECAB’s conclusions and said national observers from 38 other civil society and religious groups had “not seen the same thing”.

Foreign observers were not allowed to oversee the electoral process.

Burundi’s main opposition party on Thursday filed its submission to the Constitutional Court to contest the results of the presidential election.

Prior to the elections, Bishops in Burundi expressed concern about election-related violence in their country and called on all Burundians to be ready to “accept the results of the elections and ensure that no one causes instability or war.”

They also urged those responsible for the electoral process and other authorities to remain vigilant and ensure freedom for all.

Burundi has been plagued by unrest since April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his bid for a disputed third term. However, in June 2018, President Nkurunziza said that he would not seek another term.

Relations between the Church and the state have been tense since 2015.

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Last year, the Bishops emphasized the administration's political violence and warned that the Imbonerakure – the youth wing of the ruling party – had replaced security forces in the country.

In response, the government said that some Bishops should be defrocked and claimed that these men were spitting “venomous hatred through incendiary messages,” according to a tweet from presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe.

In their May 26 collective statement, the Bishops appealed to the people of God in Burundi “to put their trust in the Lord who remains the only Master in history and to keep calm.”

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.