BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - The European Union (EU) has urged Burundi to set up an independent and permanent electoral commission to ensure free and fair elections due in 2010.
"The establishment of such a commission is really a priority for us," Roeland Van de Geer, EU special envoy in the Great Lakes region told reporters late on Wednesday.
"We will continue to follow the political evolution in Burundi very closely, including the way towards (the) election."
Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader elected in 2005, has been praised for improving the coffee-growing country's economy but rights groups accuse his government of intimidating opponents and corruption.
The 2005 election was organised by an electoral commission which was then disbanded and has not been replaced.
The EU is the biggest donor to the tiny central African nation, emerging from more than a decade of ethnic conflict that killed 300,000 people. Last year, the EU pledged 400 million euros in aid between 2007 and 2013.
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