Burundi opposition leader wants vote postponed

Elections in Burundi should be postponed until conditions to make the polls free and fair are met, a leading opposition candidate said yesterday, days before the country holds parliamentary elections. Elections should not be held in current conditions, characterised by insecurity and by lack of freedom of expression and movement, said Agathon Rwasa, who is vying for the presidency as an independent candidate. There is intimidation and assassination of opposition figures and more than 127,000 people have fled the country for fear of violence, Rwasa said in a telephone interview. Burundi is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on Monday and presidential elections on July 15. Rwasa said President Pierre Nkurunziza should withdraw his candidacy which is in violation of the constitution’s two-term limit for the presidency. He said the opposition is not boycotting elections like in 2010 but wants them to be postponed as per recommendations of the international community. It also wants a dialogue with the government until the issues impeding democratic polls are resolved. “We are for a credible process. It is clear that the so-called elections are not going to be credible,” he said. Talks facilitated by the United Nations between the government, opposition and civil society groups have failed because the government has refused to participate, Rwasa said. Evariste Ngayimpenda, vice president of the Union for National Progress or UPRONA, said it is ready to participate in a dialogue in order to get credible elections. Burundi has experienced weeks of unrest since the ruling party’s April 26 announcement that Nkurunziza will run for a third term in office. At least 77 people have died in street protests opposing Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term. The street protests boiled over in mid-May, leading to an attempted coup. Separately, the US embassy in Burundi said some 100 university students who had sought refuge at the embassy parking lot amid the political turmoil in the country have left. The embassy said in a statement Friday the students left Thursday night after being at the embassy for some hours and speaking with the ambassador there, Dawn Liberi. The embassy said the students relocated to a centre run by a religious entity. Burundian police had broken down the students’ camp Thursday that was adjacent to the embassy. The students had been staying there since April 30 when their university was closed because of political turmoil.

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Burundi opposition leader wants vote postponed