Burundi’s Constitutional Court on Friday officially endorsed the results of the legislative elections held earlier in June, which saw the ruling party secure every seat in parliament.
The East African nation conducted its elections on June 5, where the incumbent CNDD-FDD party garnered an overwhelming 96 per cent of the vote, consequently winning all 100 parliamentary seats.
However, the election outcomes have been met with strong condemnation from both the opposition and the Catholic Church, who have labelled the vote “rigged.”
Despite these allegations, the victorious CNDD-FDD party announced on Friday via X (formerly Twitter) that the recount process was complete and the results validated. Notably, in some constituencies, the CNDD-FDD claimed 100 per cent of the vote.
A report by Human Rights Watch cited instances where “ruling party officials and youths intimidated, harassed, and threatened the population and censored media coverage to secure a landslide victory.”
President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who assumed power in June 2020 after the death of his predecessor, Pierre Nkurunziza (who had governed for 15 years with an iron fist), leads the CNDD-FDD.
The party has faced accusations of undermining its primary opposition, the CNL, which placed second in the 2020 elections.
Burundi remains the world’s poorest country by GDP per capita, according to the World Bank’s 2023 index, with three-quarters of its 12 million citizens living below the poverty line.
