Bujumbura, Burundi--Burundi's main opposition parties said Wednesday it was now "impossible" to hold free and fair elections next week and that the result should not be recognised if they take place.
The opposition said plans for polls to go ahead despite widespread civil unrest in the capital was tantamount to an "electoral hold-up" by President Pierre Nkurunziza, whose controversial bid for a third consecutive term has plunged the central African nation into a deep political crisis.
The statement came as another demonstrator was killed and two wounded in clashes in the south of the country, according to local officials, while activists complained of mounting attacks by ruling party supporters.
"The country has sunk into a political and security mess which in no way can allow for peaceful, transparent, free or credible elections," Burundi's main opposition parties said in a joint statement.
"Having an election campaign or holding a vote is impossible. We cannot have an electoral hold-up," the statement said, accusing Nkurunziza and the ruling CNDD-FDD party of silencing independent media, detaining opponents and provoking a major refugee crisis.
Parliamentary elections are due to be held on June 5, with a presidential poll scheduled for June 26. On Tuesday, the government appealed for public donations from "patriotic citizens" so that it could organise the elections, which have been hit by a funding freeze by the central African nation's former colonial power Belgium as well as the European Union.
The crisis surrounds a bid by Nkurunziza to stand for a third consecutive term in office, with opposition and rights groups saying this violates the constitution as well as the terms of a peace deal that ended a 13-year civil war in 2006.
AFP
