Burundi votes on new constitution

The people of Burundi appear to have overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, preliminary results showed today.

They have been voting in massive numbers to pass a referendum designed to guarantee majority rule and minority rights in the central African country ravaged by 11 years of civil war.

Paul Ngarambe, the head of the electoral commission, said early numbers showed 89% of registered voters turned out and 91% of them approved the new constitution, which reserves 60% of seats in government and parliament for Hutus and 40% for Tutsis.

More than 67% of polling stations had reported final results by the start of today.

The Tutsi minority had dominated politics since independence from Belgium in 1962. Rebels form the Hutu majority have fought the Tutsi-led army since 1993, demanding a democratic government.

The last holdout Hutu rebel group pledged not to disrupt the referendum, saying it hopes the new constitution will clear the way for the election of a new government with which it could negotiate a political settlement. The group is active in only one of Burundi’s 17 provinces.

“In all of these places the elections went well and counting as well, and the results we have clearly show that there will be no measurable, if not minor, changes in the final result,” Ngarambe said.

A simple majority is needed for Burundi’s referendum to pass.

Authorities had extended voting for two hours to help voters in places were polls opened late and those prevented from casting ballots because their names were missing from voter rolls.

The actual ethnic break down in Burundi is unclear because an accurate census has not been conducted in more than 70 years.

Nevertheless, the main Tutsi parties had urged a no vote, saying the constitution was imposed by outsiders - mediators of the 2000 peace deal that was signed in Arusha, Tanzania. They also branded it pro-Hutu.

Unidentified assailants threw three grenades at a polling station two hours before polls opened in southern Burundi. No one was injured, though electoral workers were there, Ngarambe said.

Two Tutsis were later arrested as they tried to distribute some 584 unmarked ballot papers to voters, electoral officials said.

President Domitien Ndayizeye and the former main rebel leader, Pierre Nkurunziza, both Hutus, displayed the indelible ink that marked their thumbs to prevent multiple voting.

“Burundians are now ready to enter a new phase of peace and democracy, which begins with this referendum,” Ndayizeye said, while Nkurunziza thanked the international community “for supporting us since the process begun”.

Civil war broke out in Burundi in October 1993 after Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the country’s first democratically elected leader, a Hutu. More than 260,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict.