Former rebel group wins Senate

Burundi’s recently-elected local councillors met on Friday in 17 provincial towns to elect members of the country’s Senate. As the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD), a former rebel movement, won an overwhelming majority in communal elections held on 3 June, it is now expected to sweep the Senate. In preliminary results on Friday CNDD-FDD candidates won the seats in the provinces of Cibitoke, Cankuzo, Gitega, Mwaro, Muyinga, Bubanza, Karuzi, Kayanza, Ngozi, Ruyigi, and Kirundo. Each councillor gets to cast two ballots to choose two senators, one from the Hutu community and another from the Tutsi. Some 119 candidates are contesting the 34 senatorial seats. The elected senators, along with the recently elected assemblymen, are to elect the country’s president on 19 August. However, last week, the electoral commission, known as the CENI, announced that the only presidential candidate was CNDD-FDD leader Pierre Nkurunziza.