Does P.Nkurunziza (President of Burundi) want to bring the fair election?? Read what he has done today

Burundi's president on Tuesday modified a decree creating the country's electoral commission to better guarantee its independence and silence vociferous complaints by the opposition.

The two previous versions of the decree proposed by President Pierre Nkurunziza in June and December last year had sparked accusations that he was curbing political freedoms to ensure his re-election in 2010 polls.

In the latest text, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, a clause authorising the state to suspend any member of the commission remotely suspected of disrupting the elections was removed, among other changes.

"We are satisfied because the president has taken our grievances into account by signing this new decree," Frederic Banvuginyunvira, deputy chairman of Burundi's main opposition Frodebu party, told AFP.

"We now have a decree which guarantees the commission's independence from the executive... Burundi is finally paving the way for fair and independent elections in 2010," he added.

Both houses of parliament had last month approved the commission's make-up, after the list of members initially proposed by the president was rejected.

An official in the president's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted that the months-long wrangling over the electoral commission had ended in victory for the opposition.

"It's a significant victory for the opposition but also for democracy because president Nkurunziza... was unfortunately forced to negotiate after realising he could not impose his will on the national assembly and the senate," the official said.

Nkurunziza, 45, is expected to seek re-election in the 2010 polls but opposition parties, rights groups and foreign powers have warned of shrinking freedoms in the small conflict-scarred central African nation.

Does the president of Burundi wants to bring the fair election?



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