Burundi's election campaign, which ended on Sunday, left several dead and injured in clashes that broke out between members of the ruling CNDD-FDD party and the main opposition CNL party
Rallies took place amid the global coronavirus pandemic, raising accusations against the government of the outgoing president, Pierre Nkurunziza, of manhandling the COVID-19 crisis.
But hopes that this could herald the end of a repressive rule were dashed with the appointment of his party's candidate, retired army general, Evariste appointment was a compromise between Nkurunziza and a small but powerful cabal of generals who control the levers of government, according to the Burundi Human Rights Initiative.
Coming from a government which has consistently downplayed the crisis at home, this can only be seen as a ploy to legitimize elections, which will certainly "not be free and fair," Wolters told DW.
Burundi's government also refused any electoral observers from the United Nations (UN) or the African Union (AU), accusing the latter of being too close to the opposition.
According to Wolters, while the party is ethnically dominated by the Hutu majority, the ethnic question in Burundi is not nearly as important to to people, as political parties might like to think it is.
