While the president of the National Independent Electoral Commission-CENI has reported the voters’ registration records at 112, 01 %, politicians from CNARED, the coalition of the opposition parties in exile qualify them as false and ambiguous.
Pancrace Cimpaye: “People were forced to register. The results are misleading and fanciful”
Pancrace Cimpaye, CNARED spokesman, says these records are not true and show how Burundians are still manipulated. “People registered by force. They were persecuted, some of them were denied access to the markets, schools and hospitals if they didn’t show the registration paper. They registered because they wanted to survive. This shows that the records are fanciful and distorted”.
Cimpaye says the National Independent Electoral Commission is no longer a commission for transparent and neutral elections but a dependent commission working for the ruling party. “The commission depends on the ruling party and the results of the elections are already known,” he says.
Abel Gashatsi, chairman of UPRONA party which is officially recognised by the government, says he is satisfied with the registration rate.
About some complaints of people who were forced to register, Gashatsi does not deny that there may be exceptions. “The registration process went well in general. People were sensitised and they came to register. For some who were threatened and/or persecuted, these are just some exceptions,” he has said.
Gashatsi demands CENI to manage well the next steps towards the 2020 elections so as to make them successful and credible.
The platform of the opposition parties in exile- CNARED had appealed to Burundians to boycott the registration. It said the current moment was not propitious to hold a constitutional referendum.
“Burundi government should rather engage in an inclusive dialogue with all the concerned parties, the only way to make the elections a success,” said CNARED.
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