Court to endorse final result of constitutional referendum, official says

Burundi's Independent National Electoral Commission, or CENI, announced on Friday the results of a constitutional referendum held on 28 February, but said the figures would be considered final once the Constitutional Court endorsed them. Announcing the results in the capital, Bujumbura, CENI Chairman Paul Ngarambe said 2.6 million voters, representing 90.10 percent of the 2.89 million voters who took part in the referendum, said "yes" to a new constitution aimed at slashing the power imbalance between the minority Tutsi and the majority Hutu tribes, the two main ethnic groups in the country. Some 226,235 voters, or 7.82 percent of all the voters, voted "no" to the constitution, Ngarambe said. There also were 60,285 invalid votes, or 2.08 percent of the voters. He said 50.7 percent of the voters were women, while 49.3 percent were men. Ngarambe went on to say that 3.13 million Burundians had registered to take part in the referendum, and the turnout was 92.4 percent, representing the 2.89 million voters. He said the election had generally taken place in tranquillity, despite what he called "minor irregularities".