Parliament creates electoral commission

Burundi's transitional national assembly voted on Tuesday for a law creating a national commission to conduct general elections due before 1 November. The assembly also voted in a law creating a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The five members of the National Independent Electoral Commission, both men and women, represent various ethnic groups and regions.

All five come from civil society, and were chosen for their integrity and patriotism, as stipulated in the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, the president's spokesman, Pancrace Cimpaye, said

The commission's chairman is Paul Ngarambe, a lecturer at the public University of Burundi and an official at UNESCO's office in Burundi. He is a Hutu born in the northern province of Ngozi.

Léonard Nduwayo is a Tutsi from the southern province of Bururi, who has been president of the National Olympic Committee. He is the vice-chairman of the commission.

The secretary of the commission is Clotilde Niragira. She is a Hutu born in the central province of Karusi. Libérate Kiburago is a Tutsi and is from the central province of Muramvya. The fifth member is a Roman Catholic priest, Abbot Astère Kana, who is a Hutu from the central province of Gitega.

On Wednesday, Burundi's Senate approved the national assembly's law creating the electoral commission. The law now only needs to be signed by the head of state before the commissioners can begin work.

Regional heads of state had urged the setting up of the electoral commission by 29 August and to ratify a draft constitution three weeks later.

The national assembly passed another law establishing the TRC to focus on crimes committed during the country's recent civil war as well as crimes that have taken place since Burundi's independence in 1962. The aim is to help Burundians come to terms with the injustices they have suffered and perpetuated.

Parliamentary members of the Conseil national de défense de la démocratie-Forces de défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) of Pierre Nkurunziza did not take part in the TRC vote. The head of the CNDD-FDD MPs, Pasteur Mpawenayo, said they objected to article 7 of the draft-law, which excluded the CNDD-FDD leader from participating in the commission.

Nkurunziza was not consulted in the nomination of 25 members of the commission, Mpawenayo said. Under article 7, only to the head of state and his deputy appoints TRC members.

Despite CNDD-FDD's absence, the bill still passed.