Burunga : the opposition muzzled even before the village elections

SOS Médias Burundi,

Burunga, August 11, 2025 – In Burunga, in the south of the country, while some candidates registered for the village elections have been campaigning for nearly a week, many others—mostly from opposition parties—are shocked to discover that they are not on the official lists of those authorized to run.

Testimonies collected in several hill regions of the province agree : these candidates, although duly registered, have not seen the lists publicly displayed. As a result, they learned of their exclusion far too late, while their opponents had already been campaigning since day one.

In remote rural areas, sometimes dozens of kilometers from district centers—some new districts encompassing the equivalent of three old ones—confusion reigned. Candidates desperately searched for these supposedly “posted” lists, going as far as district headquarters and even to the Provincial Electoral Commission. But again, radio silence, with no official documents to show.

On the ground, one thing is clear : only candidates from the ruling party, the CNDD-FDD, appear to have had access to the complete lists from the outset. According to several sources, including within the electoral commissions, these lists were briefly posted… before being quickly removed once the opponents had been removed. Given advance warning, the CNDD-FDD candidates were thus able to run without any real competition.

For some observers, this is a deliberate strategy : to lock down the election by depriving citizens of any alternative choice and ensuring that only candidates loyal to the government appear on the ballot. This method has already been tried and tested nationally : the Burundian parliament is now entirely dominated by the CNDD-FDD, 100%, with the exception of a few members from the marginalized Batwa community, also considered affiliated with the ruling party.

Despite protests from those excluded and some outraged members of the electoral commissions, the campaign is continuing. The election is scheduled for August 25, while the official campaign began on the 5th.

To date, no public reaction has been issued by the president of the Independent Provincial Electoral Commission (CEPI) of Burunga, Philemon Nahabandi.

In Burunga, local democracy already appears to have lost a battle.