This archive report was first published on 6 June 2020.
On May 20, Burundians went to the polls to elect their next president, with Evariste Ndayishimiye emerging victorious with 68% of the votes.
However, the opposition candidate, Agathon Rwasa, has been negotiating for a soft landing after the constitutional court upheld Ndayishimiye's election as president.
Speaking to The EastAfrican, Rwasa stated, “We are going to see how we can negotiate with the government because this decision shouldn’t be the cause of bloodshed in the country.”
Rwasa, who is also the deputy speaker of parliament, had sought constitutional court intervention to annul the election, citing irregularities.
He accused the ruling party of rigging the election and the Independent Electoral Commission of announcing provisional results before tallying was concluded.
“The day the electoral commission announced the provisional results some provinces were yet to finish vote counting. We had to go to the constitutional court because we believed the court was neutral, but now we have to comply with the law, even when the irregularities are so obvious,” Rwasa said.
Among the eight arguments submitted by Rwasa included gross irregularities, such as dead voters still being on the register, and his agents being arrested while others were kicked out of polling stations before vote counting began.
However, Burundi’s constitutional court president, Charles Ndayiragije, said there was no compelling evidence for the incidents alleged by Rwasa.
On June 6, 2020, the constitutional court upheld Ndayishimiye's election as president, declaring him the winner of the presidential election for a seven-year term.
