Évariste Ndayishimiye wins Burundi’s presidential poll

AP | Évariste Ndayishimiye, has been declared the winner of Burundi’s presidential election.

Ndayishimiye won with 69 percent of the vote in the election which took place on May 20, the country’s election commission announced Monday.

Because he garnered more than 50 percent of the vote, Ndayishimiye will not have to go to a runoff election and he is expected to be inaugurated in August.

Ndayishimiye, 52, will succeed President Pierre Nkurunziza, who has been in power since 2005. Both are from Burundi’s ruling party, the CNDD-FDD.

Seven candidates contested the election in which ballots were cast by more than 4 million voters of Burundi’s 11 million people, according to the election commission.

The candidate coming in second place was Agathon Rwasa, leader of the opposition CNL, who got 24 percent of the vote, according to the election commission.

Ndayishimiye has been serving as the ruling party’s secretary-general and is an ally of Nkurunziza. He dropped out of university to fight alongside Nkurunziza in Burundi’s civil war. He later served as minister of interior.

“Ndayishimiye has worked for unity for many years and many Burundians have decided to give him chance,” said Desire Manirakiza in Gitega, Burundi’s second largest city.

Ndayishimiye is known for consulting the viewpoint of others but many political analysts say he is not expected to take any decisions different from Nkurunziza.

Outgoing leader Nkurunziza surprised many when he agreed to step down last year. Early this year parliament agreed to award him with US$530,000 as well as his honorary title.

Nkurunziza rose to power in 2005 following the signing of the Arusha accords ending a 13-year civil war that killed about 300,000 people.

He was re-elected unopposed in 2010 after the opposition boycotted the vote. He then claimed he was eligible for a third term in 2015 – a move that critics called unconstitutional.

Street demonstrations erupted against Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term.

The final election results will be declared by the country’s Constitutional Court on June 4.