CNDD-FDD confirmed winner of communal polls

Burundi's Independent National Electoral Commission, or CENI, released on Thursday the final results of communal polls held countrywide on 3 June, confirming the outright victory of the country's former main rebel group, the CNDD-FDD, now a political party. "Out of 3,225 seats in competition, CNDD-FDD won 1,781 seats, followed by FRODEBU [Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi] party with 822 seats," Paul Ngarambe, the electoral commission chairman, said. He said the CNDD-FDD, or Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces nationales pour la défense de la démocratie, polled an overall 57.3 percent of the votes cast. The largest mainly Tutsi party, the Union pour le Progrès National (UPRONA), came third with 260 seats followed by Movement for the Rehabilitation of Citizens (MRC), with 88 seats. Ngarambe also announced that voter turnout was as high, with an attendance of 80.6 percent of the registered voters. The councillors who were elected at the communal polls will, on 29 July, elect members of the higher chamber of Burundi's parliament. These legislators, who along with colleagues in the lower chamber, who will be chosen on 4 July, would then elect the country's president on 19 August. The communal elections were the first in Burundi since the resurgence of ethnic conflict of 1993. At least 300,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands others displaced in Burundi's 12-year civil war.