Ex-rebel group leading in communal elections

Partial results of communal elections in Burundi showed a former rebel group in the lead, with an estimated 72 percent of registered voters taking part in Friday's elections despite incidents of fraud and violence. The Conseil National pour la defense de la democratie-Forces nationales pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) "largely won the communal elections", Paul Ngarambe, the chairman of the national electoral commission said on Saturday on national television. However, he said the commission could not publish results officially until all the results were in. According to estimates made by local reporters and various provincial electoral commissions, CNDD-FDD won in all but three of the country's 17 provinces. The Front pour la democratie au Burundi (FRODEBU) came second in many areas, followed by the Union pour le progress national (UPRONA). At a news conference on Sunday, CNDD-FDD spokesman Ramadhani Karenga said his party's victory was a source of "pride for all Burundians", as it was a sign that democracy was taking root in the country. Voting, however, was cancelled in 31 polling centres in six of 129 communes in the provinces of Bubanza and Bujumbura Rural, in some cases because of grenade attacks and gunfire. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Burundi, Carolyn McAskie, said the poll would be held again on Tuesday in all areas where voting was cancelled. She added that UN peacekeepers and government defence forces would team up to provide security "so we will be able to reassure the people in those communes that they can come out and vote". Army spokesman Maj Adolphe Manirakiza blamed the poll violence on the rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), although its leader, Agathon Rwasa, has agreed to a ceasefire and was due to hold further peace talks with the government on Monday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's commercial capital. Voters should nevertheless be watchful, Manirakiza said. "Trouble-makers do not need to be in big numbers," he said.