EU suspends Burundi election mission

The European Union said Thursday that it had canceled an observer mission to Burundi over concerns about whether the election would be fair.

Members of Parliament had planned to travel to the country to join the mission, but had to cancel their trip last week because Pierre Nkurunziza, the Burundian president, postponed the elections to June 5.

The mission’s deputy head Jose Antonio De Gabriel, then said that the continuation of the mission was endangered by the unrest in the country.

Federica Mogherini, the European Commission’s high representative, decided to suspend the mission because the election process is suffering from “serious restrictions on independent media, excessive use of force against demonstrators, a climate of intimidation for opposition parties and civil society and lack of confidence in the election authorities”.

Mogherini, said that all partners in the country should continue talks to make sure that the conditions for democratic elections, including respect of citizens’ fundamental rights, political parties’ rights to freely campaign and the media’s right to report, are met. She calls on the government of Burundi to take measures.

The mission was based in the capital city Bujumbura since April 24, and was supposed to oversee the elections to make sure that the process would be “transparent, peaceful, credible and fair”.

Chief Observer David Martin, a British center-left MEP said that he hopes that the conditions for holding democratic elections will be restored. “The mission will be pleased to return to Burundi to re-assume its independent observation when there are clear signals that minim conditions for democratic elections can be achieved.”

Earlier Thursday, the country’s influential Catholic Church said that it does not support the elections and criticized the way the elections have been organized.

The United Nations envoy to Burundi, Said Djinnit, is in ongoing talks with the government to make sure that the different political parties still have the political will to restore voters’ confidence.

Burundi’s political instability has been hit by a series of events starting with a failed coup d’etat and the assassination of Zedi Feruzi, an opposition leader, on May 23. President Nkurunziza, who has been the president since 2005, wants to get a third mandate which the constitution currently forbids.