BUJUMBURA July 2nd (ABP) – The election of MPs and communal advisors will be held on May 20, 2020 by “universal” direct suffrage throughout Burundian territory, as announced in Bujumbura on Friday by Mr. Pierre-Claver Kazihise, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI). It was on the occasion of the solemn presentation of the 2020 electoral calendar to representatives of the constituent bodies (ministers, senior state officials and members of the diplomatic corps).
Mr. Kazihise said immediately in his occasional speech that the CENI drew up that calendar by referring to the provisions of the new electoral law enacted on May 20, 2019 by the President of Burundi, Mr. Pierre Nkurunziza.
According to that schedule, President Nkurunziza will sign on February 20, 2020 the decree of convocation of the voters who will take part in the aforementioned elections.
The decree opening the electoral campaign for the presidential election (first round), that of the MPs and that of the communal Advisors will be signed on April 25, 2020. That campaign will be held for 21 days, from April 27 to May 17, 2020. In the event of a second round for the presidential election, the announced electoral calendar provides for the election to be held on June 19, 2020.
In any circumstances and according to that schedule, for the presidential election, whether the President of the Republic be elected in the first or second round, in accordance with the provisions of article 93 of the electoral law of May 20, 2019, the solemn swearing in ceremony of the elected President of the Republic will take place on August 20, 2020 before the Parliament and the Constitutional Court.
On the other hand, the MPs that will be elected for the next legislature 2020-2025, will officially begin their parliamentary mandates on August 4, 2020 during a solemn ceremony enhanced by the presence of the President of the Republic.
According to the 2020 electoral calendar, the election of senators will take place on July 20, 2020 by “indirect” universal suffrage in each of Burundi’s 18 provincial constituencies by a panel of new elected communal advisors. Senators elected for the 2020-2025 legislature will also be solemnly inaugurated on August 4, 2020.
Finally, the election of councils and village or neighborhood leaders, whose candidates are supposed to be “independent”, will take place on August 24, 2020.
