Burundi holds legislative, communal polls

More than 3.8 million Burundian citizens Monday went to polls to elect MPs and communal councilors amid protests of the opposition that claims that the climate is not favorable for elections.

Polls were expected to open at 06:00 (04:00 GMT) and close at 16:00 (14:00 GMT), but in the Burundian capital Bujumbura, polls opened late due to insecurity that prevailed on Sunday night.

"I came here to exercise my right as a citizen. That's why I have voted because I need new faces in the parliament and in the local administration," said Jean Pierre Bizoza, a voter met in Kinama neighborhood.

The voting operation took place throughout the east African nation without major incidents.

A grenade was however blasted near a polling station by an unidentified person at Kibago in the Burundian southern province of Makamba, disrupting the voting operation.

Citizens however returned a few minutes later and the voting operation resumed.

At Kiremba polling station in the southern province of Bururi, a soldier mistakenly shot a bullet, disrupting the voting operation, but the operation resumed soon after.

During Monday's polls, at least 100 MPs are expected to be elected from the country's 18 provinces while 1,785 communal councilors will be elected from the country's 119 communes.

The opposition had previously announced the boycott of the polls. Endi