Transitional government to be extended by six months

Burundi’s presidential elections, scheduled to take place at the end of October, will now be held on 22 April 2005, according to a plan published on Saturday by the National Independent Electoral Commission. The commission has proposed a calendar in which the current transitional government would be extended for six months. A referendum on the country’s post-transition constitution that had been scheduled for Wednesday is now to be held on 26 November, Commission Chairman Paul Ngarambe announced on national radio and television. He was speaking from Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura. The timetable also includes local elections on 9 February, communal elections on 23 February and legislative elections on 9 March. Ngarambe said the dates might still change depending on factors such as the availability of funds and security conditions. A regional summit on Burundi held in Nairobi on Friday, endorsed the plan with the electoral calendar after receiving a report and recommendations from the commission. Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye said the Nairobi plan would be submitted to Burundi’s transitional parliament. If it adopts the plan, it would act as an interim constitution starting on 1 November when the mandate for the current transitional constitution would have expired. The interim constitution would then remain in place until the post transitional constitution is adopted. Tutsi-dominated parties led by the Union pour le progrès national (UPRONA), have rejected the summit's legitimacy and, consequently, its decision. "There is no provision for an interim constitution in the Arusha [peace] accord," Jean Baptiste Manwangari, UPRONA party chairman, said on Saturday at a news conference. Under that accord, Burundi’s transition period was set to end on 1 November. That process has been delayed partly because Manwangari and his Tutsis-dominated parties reject the current draft for a post-transition constitution. He said his parties were planning to submit their own draft of a post-transition constitution to the commission. But the electoral commissioner has already said he would reject the request as "it would not fall within the competences of the commission", Ngarambe said. The referendum has also been delayed because the country must first hold a census and register voters. However, if "the material, financial and human means are available, there is no reason why the [new] date for the referendum cannot be not respected", said Ngarambe.