{"id":6280,"date":"2015-07-21T08:43:04","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T08:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=6280"},"modified":"2015-07-21T08:43:04","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T08:43:04","slug":"burundi-elections-pierre-nkurunziza-seeks-third-term-amid-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2015\/07\/21\/burundi-elections-pierre-nkurunziza-seeks-third-term-amid-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Burundi elections: Pierre Nkurunziza seeks third term amid violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

People in Burundi are voting amid widespread tension over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to stand for a third consecutive term.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Polls opened at 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT), after a night of gunfire and explosions claimed two lives in the capital Bujumbura.<\/p>\n

The president’s critics says the vote is unconstitutional, as he is only entitled to stand for two terms only.<\/p>\n

The government accuses the opposition of provoking violent protests.<\/p>\n

The BBC’s Maud Jullien in Bujumbura says shooting was continuing in the streets on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

“Bursts of gunfire could be heard in at least one district of the capital, as polling stations were about to open,” she added.<\/p>\n

A policeman and a civilian are believed to have died.<\/p>\n

The president’s office has described the latest protests as terrorist acts intended to disrupt the election.<\/p>\n

Chief communications advisor Willy Nyamitwe said: “People do it to intimidate voters. They don’t want the voters to go to the polls.”<\/p>\n

About 1,000 people are fleeing into Tanzania each day to escape the violence, according to medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).<\/p>\n

It said many families were crossing “on foot without any belongings”.<\/p>\n

None of the president’s seven challengers has made a significant impact, correspondents say.<\/p>\n

In addition several leading opposition parties have said they would boycott the vote.<\/p>\n

Mr Nkurunziza’s main challenger, Agathon Rwasa, is registered as an independent candidate as his faction of the FNL party is not recognised by the government.<\/p>\n

His name is on the ballot paper but he says he will not participate in the process.<\/p>\n

Critics say that a win for President Nkurunziza would be a hollow triumph that will result in him governing a bitterly-divided nation.<\/p>\n

“The government has opted to isolate itself and go ahead with pseudo-elections,” prominent opposition figure Leonce Ngendakumana was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying after negotiations on the crisis broke down on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Another opposition figure, Jean Minani, accused the government of being “very irresponsible”.<\/p>\n

“They have refused to save Burundi from sliding into an abyss,” he said.<\/p>\n

Tensions<\/h2>\n

But officials close to the president – a former guerrilla fighter, teacher and born-again Christian – argue that he is a man of the people and the only person capable of rebuilding the country after decades of civil war.<\/p>\n

They say that he has an instinct for survival and is determined to remain in the presidential palace.<\/p>\n

Tensions between Burundi’s ethnic Hutu majority – comprising some 85% of the 10.5 million population – and the country’s Tutsi minority have flared up regularly since independence from Belgium in 1962.<\/p>\n

Mr Nkurunziza led a Hutu rebel group fighting the Tutsi-dominated army until a peace deal let to him becoming president in 2005.<\/p>\n

The Constitutional Court has backed his argument that his first term in office did not count towards the two-term limit, as he was elected by MPs.<\/p>\n

The elections are being held following weeks of protests over President Nkurunziza’s plan to seek a third term.<\/p>\n

In May, rebel generals tried to overthrow him in a coup. After they failed, a rebellion began in the north of the country.<\/p>\n

The African Union (AU) has not sent observers – the first time it has taken such a stance against a member state.<\/p>\n

Some 3.8 million Burundians are eligible to vote.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People in Burundi are voting amid widespread tension over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to stand for a third consecutive term. Polls opened at 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT), after a night of gunfire and explosions claimed two lives in the capital Bujumbura. The president’s critics says the vote is unconstitutional, as he is only entitled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}