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Ruling party members against Nkurunziza

Saturday March 28 2015
bur pres

Burundi's president Pierre Nkurunziza. With less than two months to go, Burundi’s president has not indicated whether he will stand. PHOTO | FILE

Efforts by Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza to run for a third term suffered a setback when more than 79 members of his ruling party, including 17 officials, signed a petition against his candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections.

The 17 officials of the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) included his spokesman Leonidas Hatungimana and Onesime Nduwimana, the former spokesman of the party and governors of some provinces.

“We are afraid that we have to prevent what may lead to political instability before the country is drawn back to war; we have seen a lot happening in other countries so we don’t want to sit and wait for war,” said one of the petitioners.

Already, 10 senior party officials have been expelled for “behaving like rebels” and opposing President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in office, according to party spokesman, Daniel Gelase Ndabirabe.

The expulsion came after the ruling party’s chairman, Pascal Nyabenda, issued a warning against the senior officials, calling their move a “violation of the Constitution.”

With less than two months to the general election, President Nkurunziza has not officially announced his intention to run for the third term. Reports from the northern part of the country suggest that some residents are crossing the borders in neighbouring Rwanda for fear that the country will go back to violence and instability.

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This is not the first petition to be signed against President Nkurunziza’s third term bid. Some 23 civil society organisations, the national committee of elders and eminent persons signed a similar petition early this year.

READ: Elders, civil society tell Nkurunziza not to run again

In early March, Catholic Archbishop Évariste Ngoyagoye and seven other clerics called on leaders to respect the Arusha Accord, which only allows the president to run for not more than two terms in the office.

Archbishop Ngoyagoye in a statement released by Burundi Catholic Church leaders urged political actors and leaders to read and understand the Constitution and respect the Arusha Accord.

“We are concerned about the fear in citizens right now, which is based on the misunderstanding of some of the constitution laws concerning the presidential elections. We request leaders to read and interpret the Constitution according to the Arusha agreement and respect it,” said the Archbishop. Eighty per cent of the Burundians are Roman Catholics.

Last week, the United Nations Security Council called on the government to respect the spirit of the Arusha Accord and the Constitution. However, it is not clear how to define the terms Nkurunziza has already served as he was elected by parliament in 2005 and directly re-elected by citizens in 2010.

In 2005, President Nkurunziza was elected by parliament as per Article 302 of the Constitution, which provides an exception for the first president in the post-transition period to be elected by both the National Assembly and the Senate by a majority of two-thirds of the members.

Article 96 of Burundi’s Constitution indicates that the president is to be directly elected by universal suffrage for a minimum two five-year terms. But this is where there is a constitutional lacuna since President Nkurunziza was only elected once by universal suffrage in 2010. His followers believe that the upcoming elections should be regarded as his second term.

READ: Burundi's blacklist: journalists, activists bemoan mounting harassment

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