A constitutional referendum was held in

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

on 17 May 2018. The proposed amendments to the constitution were approved by over 70% of voters.

Proposed changes

The proposed changes would reintroduce the post of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and reduce the number of

Vice-President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

from two to one. They also involve increasing the presidential term from five to seven years, but restricting a president to two consecutive terms. However, the amendments would also allow incumbent President

Pierre Nkurunziza Pierre Nkurunziza (18 December 1964 – 8 June 2020) was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020. A member of the Hutu, Hutu ethnic group, Nkurunziza ...

, in office since 2005, to stand for re-election, despite having already served three terms. The amendments also reduce the parliamentary majority required to pass legislation.Burundi's Opposition Says Only ‘Yes’ Campaigning Is Allowed on Referendum to Extend President’s Rule
Global Voices, 2 February 2018

Conduct

In December 2017, Nkurunziza threatened people not to campaign against the proposed changes. The official campaign window opened two weeks before the referendum. Prior to the referendum, the

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and

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were banned from the country for six months.

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

(RFI) received a "warning" about its coverage. On 11 May, at least 26 people were killed in Cibitoke Province, allegedly by militiamen from the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. The Burundian opposition coalition, Conseil National pour le Respect de l'Accord d'Arusha pour la paix et la Réconciliation au Burundi et la Restauration de l'Etat de Droit (CNARED) called on the Burundian population to boycott the vote which it accused of being the "death warrant" of the Arusha Accords of 2000 which ended the

Burundian Civil War The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first multi-party electi ...

. A Presidential decree threatened three years' imprisonment for anyone convicted of encouraging people not to vote. Reports from polling stations say some people were being forced to vote to avoid being beaten or arrested. Suspected opponents were "killed, raped, abducted, beaten, and intimidated,"

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

said in a statement, adding it had documented at least 15 killings, six rapes and eight abductions during voting day.

Results

References

{{Burundian elections Constitutional

Referendums in Burundi