Burundi orders re-vote in six districts after violence mars elections - UN
6 June 2005 – Burundi will hold fresh ballots in six districts where landmark local elections were disrupted by violence, the United Nations envoy for peacekeeping in the Great Lakes country said today.
The re-vote, which will be held tomorrow, will not affect the electoral calendar, UN Operation in Burundi (UNOB) chief Carolyn McAskie said.
Friday’s vote to choose councils for 129 districts – or communes – was marred by outbreaks of violence. Unidentified armed elements assailed potential voters with gunshots and other forms of intimidation, and the Independent National Electoral Commission decided that the elections would be run again in the six communes, located in two provinces.
Addressing the people registered to vote in those six communes in particular, Ms. McAskie added, “The votes of those who cast them on Friday won’t be counted. They must return to the polling stations and vote again.”
The voter turnout on Friday across the other 123 communes was 72 per cent, she said, congratulating the voters of Burundi.
The six communes were Kanyosha, Nyabiraba, Muhuta and Isale in Bujumbura Rural Province and Rugazi and Mpanda in Bubanza Province, UNOB said.
Force Commander Derick Ngwebi said a security force of 2,000 peacekeepers would be deployed and 31 civilian teams would oversee the repeat voting.
UNOB said on Saturday that the shooting attacks on polling stations had resulted in the death of at least one Burundian civilian and the very serious head injury of a South African peacekeeper, who had been evacuated to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, for medical attention.
The municipal elections are the first on the electoral calendar, with the parliamentary poll on 4 July, senatorial elections on 19 July, presidential polls on 19 August and district level elections on 23 September.
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