Burundians on Wednesday will bring the curtain down on President Pierre Nkurunziza's 15-year-long rule, in elections that are taking place despite a largely-ignored outbreak of coronavirus.

Electors are being called out after five years of turmoil sparked by Nkurunziza's bid for a disputed third term, which unleashed unrest that left at least 1,200 dead and saw 400,000 flee the country.

Some 5.1 million registered voters will choose between Nkurunziza's handpicked heir and frontrunner, 52-year-old general Evariste Ndayishimiye, main opposition competitor Agathon Rwasa, and five other candidates.

Ndayishimiye is a party veteran who like Nkurunziza, fought for the ethnic Hutu rebellion during the country's 1993-2006 civil war with the minority Tutsi-dominated army.

Rwasa, 56, was a leader of the country's oldest ethnic Hutu rebel movement Palipehutu-FNL, one of the two main rebel groups in the war.