Burundi president delays parliamentary polls as clashes continue

 

The Burundian president, Pierre Nkurunziza, has postponed parliamentary elections which had been scheduled for 26 May to 5 June after “a proposal from the electoral commission, to respond to a request from opposition parties, and finally to answer calls of the region and the international community

No decision has been made as to whether the presidential poll set for 26 June would also be delayed

The EU and the African Union called for a delay to the elections on Tuesday May 19,2015, and South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, said the polls should be postponed indefinitely, after a meeting of Africa’s Great Lakes bloc of nations.

Opposition and rights groups say Nkurunziza’s bid for a third five-year term in power is unconstitutional and the terms of the peace deal that ended the 13-year civil war in 2006.

Since early April 2015, more than 112000 Refugees have fled Burundi to Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),amid rising violence and intimidation, mainly by the Imbonerakure, in the runup to June 2015’s presidential elections.

The refugee crisis peaked after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced on 25 April that he would stand for a third term, triggering street protests in the capital, Bujumbura.