One-party parliament looms as opposition says democracy ‘killed’

The ruling party in Burundi has won all 100 seats in a parliamentary election that the opposition says has “killed” democracy in the central African state.

Giving the provisional results for last week’s poll, electoral commission head Prosper Ntahorwamiye said the CNDD-FDD party secured more than 96% of votes in all provinces.

The election had seen only “some minor irregularities”, he added.

The opposition Uprona party came second with a little over 1% of the vote. The party denounced the election as rigged, with its leader Olivier Nkurunziza telling the AFP news agency: “We have killed democracy.”

The main opposition party, the National Congress for Liberty (CNL), fell into third spot, getting only 0.6% of the vote.

Campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the result showed that democracy had been “hollowed out” in Burundi.

It added that the CNDD-FDD, in power since 2005, “sought to dismantle all meaningful opposition”, including from its biggest rival, the CNL.

Freedom of expression is limited in Burundi and critics say these polls followed a prolonged campaign of intimidation and harassment.

Voters, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC they doubted the ruling party had so much support at a time of dire economic hardship.

Election observers from the Catholic Church were turned away from some polling centres, according to HRW.

The African Union meanwhile has been criticised for praising the “climate of freedom and transparency” of the polls, which it declared were “peaceful”.

Correspondents say there was little sign of celebrations in the main city of Bujumbura after the provisional results were announced on Wednesday.

The electoral commission said the results would be submitted to the Constitutional Court, which has to then certify them and provide the final results by 20 June.

Ntahorwamiye said there were “some minor irregularities – shortcomings that came about which have been resolved – because as you know, nothing is completely perfect”.

In line with the Arusha Accords that brought an end to the bitter Burundian civil war more than two decades ago, the ethnic composition of the country’s parliament has to mirror the proportions of Hutus, Tutsis and Twa people in the population at large.

After this month’s vote count, the electoral commission announced that an additional 11 seats were to be created and filled to remedy an imbalance – which will bring the total number of MPs to 111.