Nkurunziza wraps up election campaign

The electoral campaign for Monday's presidential election in Burundi ended Friday with only incumbent president Pierre Nkurunziza running for the vote. All the opposition parties pulled out of the electoral process over poll rigging in municipal elections on May 25.

AFP

Nkurunziza, leader of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy, wrapped up his electoral campaign in the capital of Bujumbura, even though it is considered to be the opposition stronghold.

For the first time in the beginning of the campaign, the party colours and symbols were visible in Bujumbura's streets.

Supporters from all the provinces joined the rally amidst heavy police deployment. Many intersections were closed to traffic.

Nkuruziza's top priority remains security, but he also said schools built in his five years of rule outnumber those built in 48 years of the country's independence.

The poll will be held in a tense political and security climate. Opposition parties boycotted the poll over rigging in previous municipal elections, and National Liberation Forces leader Agathon Rwasa, considered to be Nkurunziza's main challenger, went into hiding earlier in the week.

After meeting with the electoral commission and the opposition, a delegation of East African community foreign ministers urged the opposition to join the process.

According to Tanzanian Foreign minister Benjamin Memba, “in Africa and around the world, irregularities and errors are a given."

“Burundi, emerging from a situation of war, should expect to have irregularities and errors, but they should not reverse the process of democracy”, he added.