- Title: BURUNDI: VOTERS IN BURUNDI HAVE VOTED FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1993
- Date: 28th February 2005
- Summary: (BN13) BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI (FEBRUARY 28, 2005)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV HEAD OF POLLING STATION EXPLAINS THE PROCEDURE TO VOTERS 0.07 2. SV OFFICIAL SHOWING EMPTY BALLOT BOX 0.14 3. MCU THREE UN OBSERVERS LOOKING AT VOTERS LISTS 0.18 4. SLV OF PEOPLE QUEUING 0.25 5. SLV OF THE INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT/SV PEOPLE QUEUING (2 SHOTS) 0.34 6. SV PRESIDENT DOMITIEN NDAYIZEYE IN QUEUE 0.38 7. SV OF DOMITIEN NDAYIZEYE CASTING HIS VOTE (2 SHOTS) 1.00 8. MCU (French) BURUNDIAN PRESIDENT, DOMITIEN NDAYIZEYE SAYING: "This day, marks the beginning of a new period. When we have to decide and do like we promised, to elect our leaders of the bottom until the top. Certain friendly or unquestionable countries had doubts as to our determination to use this electoral process. Today we come to demonstrate that we have moved and we are at a stage of no return. Then those which hesitated yesterday or who doubted our determination can understand that we have decided to proceed and all that all the aid that they had promised to us can be released without hesitation." 2.06 9. SV DOMITIEN LEAVING 2.14 10. SV MILITARY AND CIVILIANS IN THE QUEUE 2.20 11. SV OF FORMER REBEL LEADER PETER NKURUNZIZA ON THE QUEUE 2.25 12. SV/CU PETER NKURUNZIZA VOTING (2 SHOTS) 2.35 13. MCU (French) CNDD-FDD, PETER NKURUNZIZA SAYING: "As you know it is the consecration of a solid foundation for the democratisation of our country, the agreements that one makes are agreements on the basis of long and hard negotiations which have succeeded. It is on these agreements which have brought peace, and it is following the application of these agreements that one gets peace, an occasion has allowed us to enter the phase of the democratisation of our country." 3.09 14. LV OF VUGIZO POLLING STATION OF VUGIZO 3.12 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th March 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI
- Country: Burundi
- Reuters ID: LVAETFCBHIB5VKQ9FM56ERYX6KNC
- Story Text: Voters in Burundi have voted for the first time
since 1993
Voters in Burundi took part in the country's first
democratic poll in 12 years on Monday, a constitutional
referendum to prepare for elections to build an ethnically
balanced government from the ruins of civil war.
If approved, the constitution would enshrine
power-sharing between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi
minority, which has dominated politics and the military in
the tiny central African nation since independence from
Belgium in 1962.
"This day, marks the beginning of a new period. When we
have to decide and do like we promised, to elect our
leaders of the bottom until the top. Certain friendly or
unquestionable countries had doubts as to our determination
to use this electoral process. Today we come to demonstrate
that we have moved and we are at a stage of no return. Then
those which hesitated yesterday or who doubted our
determination can understand that we have decided to
proceed and all that all the aid that they had promised to
us can be released without hesitation," President Domitien
Ndayizeye told reporters.
Three million have registered to vote in the poll,
twice delayed by logistical problems such as the absence of
voter rolls, electoral laws and ballots.
Polls opened in most places around 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT)
and were due to close at 4:00 p.m. (1400 GMT).
In what army spokesman Adolphe Manirakiza called an act of
intimida
tion ahead of the vote, several students were
wounded late on Sunday when two hand grenades were lobbed
at their high school in southern Burundi.
Some poll observers said voting could run overtime
because many people had not been issued with voter cards.
Despite the hitch, many expressed hope about the
referendum. Former Forum for the Defence of Democracy (FDD)
leader Peter Nkurunziza, also expressed optimism after
voting in the referendum.
"As you know it is a the consecration of a solid
foundation for the democratisation of our country, the
agreements that one makes are agreements on the basis of
long and hard negotiations which have succeeded. It is on
these agreements which have brought peace, and it is
following the application of these agreements that one gets
peace, an occasion has allowed us to enter the phase of the
democratisation of our country," Peter Nkurunziza told
reporters
The referendum, the result of a peace agreement signed
in 2000, is the first crucial step towards later local,
parliamentary and presidential elections.
The power-sharing government the constitution would
produce is supposed to settle ethnic divisions responsible
for political bloodshed since independence. The latest
round of violence has killed some 300,000 in the
coffee-producing country since 1993.
A number of Tutsi parties -- unaccustomed to losing
power -- have urged their members to vote against the
constitution, arguing it places too much control in Hutu
hands.
Analysts expect the constitution to pass if Hutus, who
make up 85 percent of Burundi's population of about seven
million, they turn out in force. Should that happen,
elections are to follow in the coming months.
The only rebel group that has not joined the peace
process, the militant Hutu Forces for National Liberation
(FNL), has promised not to disrupt the vote with violence.
The FNL, which continues to clash with army troops, has
offered to hold peace talks but a row over who would
mediate has forestalled them.
The interim government pre-emptively dispatched 20,000
police and soldiers to ensure peaceful polling and U.N.
troops are also on call for trouble, Public Security
Minister Col. Donatien Sindakira told reporters.
There are 6,000 polling stations throughout the
country.
Local and international observers including the United
Nations are on hand to monitor the voting.
Results are not expected until at least Tuesday and
possibly later, the electoral commission said.
The last democratic elections, held in June 1993,
quickly led to the catalyst of 10 years of ethnic civil war.
Just four months after he became Burundi's first
democratically elected president, Hutu leader Melchior
Ndadaye was assassinated by Tutsi paratroopers in a failed
coup and the war began in earnest.
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