Electoral commission preparing timetable, official says

Burundi's electoral body, the CENI, is preparing an electoral timetable now that President Domitien Ndayizeye has promulgated the country's new constitution and the National Assembly has approved the communal law and electoral code, which are required for the polls due on 22 April. "It [the timetable] needs careful study," Paul Ngarambe, chairman of the National Independent Electoral Commission, or CENI, said at a news conference on Friday in the capital, Bujumbura. He said the CENI must wait until the Senate, the upper chamber of Parliament, has approved the electoral code and the communal law before an electoral timetable could be finalised. Senate approval is needed before the communal law and electoral code can be sent to President Ndayizeye to sign into law. The National Assembly, the lower chamber of Parliament, adopted the communal law on 15 March, in a 141-4 vote with 28 abstentions. On 11 March, the National Assembly voted 163-0 to adopt the new electoral code. There were six abstentions.