Voters in Burundi have backed constitutional
amendments that coud potentially allow President Pierre Nkurunziza to
stay in office until 2034 as well as boost his powers.
Pierre-Claver Ndayicariye, election commission chief, said 73 percent of voters had voted "Yes" in the referendum to change the constitution, including
whether the current five-year-presidential terms will be increased to
seven years. No change to the limit of two terms in office was proposed.
Nineteen percent voted "No", with a turnout of 96
percent. More than five million people had registered to vote in the
referendum on May 17, according to officials
Before the vote, the opposition had decried it as an undemocratic foregone conclusion.
The referendum came three years after Nkurunziza won a controversial third term as president during a 2015 election, which was boycotted by the opposition.
Nkurunziza first came to power in 2005, five years after the signing of a nationwide peace deal known as the Arusha Accords, which paved the way for the ending of a 12-year-long civil war that saw more than 300,000 people killed.
According to a provision in the peace deal, no leader could serve more than two five-year terms.
But in early 2015, Nkurunziza claimed it was legal for him to run in the elections because for his first term he had been appointed to the presidency by parliament - as opposed to being voted in.
A political crisis ensued, with the opposition calling Nkurunziza's bid unconstitutional. An attempted coup was quashed, while a crackdown on anti-government protests resulted in the killing of at least 1,200 people.
More than 400,000 others, including opposition leaders, fled the country.
As well as allowing Nkurunziza to prolong his rule, the approved changes to Burundi's constitution also allow the revision of ethnic quotas currently protected under the accords.
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