{Multiple irregularities have marred voter registration ahead of Burundi’s elections, the interior minister said Monday, adding that some were the government’s fault.}<\/p>\n
Burundi, a small nation in Africa’s Great Lakes region, emerged in 2006 from a brutal 13-year civil war, but its political climate remains fractious in the runup to presidential polls next year.<\/p>\n
“Regarding the irregularities… I would say there are quite a few,” Interior Minister Edouard Nduwimana said, responding to complaints by opposition parties.<\/p>\n
A key concern has been the alleged mass distribution of identification cards to supporters of the ruling party.<\/p>\n
Leonce Ngendakumana, leader of Burundi’s opposition coalition of 12 parties, the Democratic Alliance for Change (ADC-Ikibiri), has warned of “many irregularities that are likely to completely distort the electoral roll.”<\/p>\n
Ngendakumana claimed the “cheating” had included a “mass distribution of identity cards to members of the ruling party” while at the same time officials are “systematically refusing them to opposition supporters.”<\/p>\n
Under electoral law, voters must present an identification card to register, but the election commission has also accepted other documents including birth certificates and driving licenses.<\/p>\n
Nduwimana said that “most of the irregularities are due to the haste with which the identity cards are issued, as many of our citizens do not have one.”<\/p>\n
President Pierre Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, is expected to run for a third term in office despite opponents’ claims that that would violate Burundi’s constitution.<\/p>\n
Most opposition parties boycotted Burundi’s last elections in 2010, and Nkurunziza’s opponents are again accusing the ruling CNDD-FDD party of eliminating any dissent ahead of the next polls.<\/p>\n
Burundi issued some 1.5 million identity cards — around a third of eligible voters — to citizens who had had no cards just before the 2010 elections.<\/p>\n
Registration opened on November 24 and ends on December 7<\/p>\n
Daily Mail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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