Peaceful campaigns in Burundi as polls date approaches

Electoral campaigns for Burundi's legislative and communal elections which are just a week away, are going on peacefully, the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) president Pierre-Claver Ndayicariye said on Monday.

Ndayicariye was speaking in Bujumbura during a ceremony to swear in 13 new members of the Provincial Independent Electoral Commissions (CEPI), which occurred just a day before the arrival in Burundi of Abdoulaye Bathily, the new international mediator in the Burundian political crisis.

Bathily, the special representative of the UN Secretary General in Burundi and the current head of the UN Office in Central Africa, will continue with the mediation task that was started on May 5 by the UN Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region Said Djinnit, to reconcile the positions of Burundi's political protagonists.

"There are always challenges when it comes to organizing elections," Ndayicariye said, adding that "the most important thing is that today, all political parties and candidates who have registered for the elections are on the ground conducting peaceful campaigns."

According to the new timetable approved by Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza, the legislative and communal elections will be held on June 29, presidential elections will be held on July 15 and the senatorial elections will be held on July 24, 2015.

Burundi's External Relations and International Cooperation Minister Alain-Aime Nyamitwe has ruled out the possibility of reviewing the electoral timetable again due to strict constitutional deadlines regarding the swearing in of a new parliament and the president on Aug. 9 and 26 respectively. Endi