October 11, 2025.

Elections but no democracy in Burundi

Parliamentary and municipal elections were held simultaneously in Burundi in June 2025 to renew the membership of the National Assembly and the Municipal Council. Although it should have been obvious given the conditions in which the elections were prepared, including suppression of opposition parties, voter intimidation and a range of other undemocratic measures, the absolute victory of the ruling party still came as a surprise and drew criticism from observers and opposition parties. It was also most likely surprising for some members of the winning ruling party itself, the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD). It garnered 96.51% of the vote and all the seats available.

Does this mean that there are no other political actors on the political scene? Far from it. Since coming to power in 2005, and especially since 2010, the ruling party has done its utmost to dismantle any real opposition through the process of 'Nyakurisation', literally translated as "creating the true political party", which consisted of applying the principle of 'divide and rule' or, better still, '"eliminate the competitor'.

The application of the 'true political party' works as follows. When an opposition party emerges, the ruling party creates another party, identical to the first but replacing it, with the addition of the term 'Nyakuri', which literally means 'the true'. This represents the original as 'false' and deliberately sows confusion. In order to achieve the complete transformation of the party, any opposition leader was always removed from the leadership of his party and replaced by another one who was in the ruling party wing, with the mission of transforming his party overnight into a satellite wing of the ruling party.

All opposition political groups experienced dissension, with poverty playing its role. This practice of atomising political parties to weaken political opponents has been the prominent political programme of the ruling party, with the ultimate aim of weakening them in order to defeat them in elections.
It was in this context that, at the beginning of 2024 (campaign preparations period), the main opposition figure (from the CNL /National Congress for Liberty ( NCL)party) was removed from his leadership position, to prevent him from being eligible to stand in the following year's elections. Three months later (April 2024), Burundi adopted a new electoral code that significantly increased candidate registration fees and required individuals who had left a political party to wait two years before being able to run again, thereby preventing members of the dismissed parties from running.

In December, the National Electoral Commission rejected the candidacies of opposition members, sidelining the main voices of the opposition, including
the opposition candidate who came second in the last presidential election and former leader of the CNL. Some were able to appeal this decision before the Constitutional Court but were still banned from standing. The Constitutional Court is also under the control of the executive branch, which is not independent but led by the ruling party.

The authorities, aided by the Imbonerakure (young militia of the ruling party), forced the population to register on the electoral roll at the end of 2024, according to information relayed by the media and testimonies. «The population wanted to show that they saw no point in these elections and tried to boycott the registration process», said an observer from the west of the country. «People were forced [to register], prevented from accessing markets, health centres, administrative services or going to the fields."

The Imbonerakure were everywhere, intimidating people. On election day, irregularities were reported. Media reports and eyewitness accounts indicate that the 5 June election was largely dominated by the ruling party. "The Imbonerakure stood in front of the polling station and told people to vote for the ruling party, 'all the officials at the polling station were members of the ruling party'. "The head of the polling station himself told me to vote for the ruling party" said one of the voters in the southern city.

Clémentine de Montjoye, senior researcher on the Great Lakes at Human Rights Watch, said that "Faced with growing frustration over the worsening economic crisis and systemic human rights abuses, the ruling party took no risks in these elections. "We were told to do whatever was necessary to ensure that people voted only for the CNDD-FDD," said a member of the Imbonerakure, the ruling party's youth militia.

Among the reports, it is noted that in several constituencies, the number of votes cast exceeded the number of registered voters. The media and witnesses also reported ballot box stuffing and selective distribution of voter cards, preventing opposition members from voting.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Burundi also expressed serious concerns about the conduct of the double election on 5 June 2025, based on reports from more than 2,400 observers deployed in approximately 30% of polling stations who denounced irregularities likely to affect the credibility of the electoral process. They stated that despite a generally calm atmosphere on polling day, «there is still a long way to go before free, transparent and peaceful elections can be held».

Among the anomalies noted were the early opening of some polling stations in the absence of representatives, refusal of access to observers, ballot boxes already filled when they arrived, and blatant bias on the part of some election officials. In several cases, voters were allegedly forced to vote for imposed candidates or prevented from freely exercising their right to vote.

It is high time to rethink and readjust the way democracy is conceived in Burundi, not a multiparty democracy in theory, not an autocratic democracy, by correcting the flaws in the legal framework and setting in motion a proactive mechanism for an effectively participatory democracy that guarantees every citizen the freedom to choose the direction of their country.

Anne-Marie Bihirabake
Vice President of the African Green Federation, Member of the Global Greens Executive Committee