A crucial election began on Wednesday in the East African nation of Burundi, where President Pierre Nkurunziza is stepping aside after a divisive 15-year rule but will remain “paramount leader” in the country that continues to reject outside scrutiny.
The vote is one of the most important transfers of power in Burundi since independence in 1962.
Few face masks were observed, even on the ruling party’s candidate, as voters crammed close to each other in line. Some paused to wash their hands.
Burundi’s government has been criticized for not appearing to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously. Nkurunziza himself attended crowded political rallies. The country has 42 confirmed virus cases. “We are not afraid because the organizers did not require us to distance 1 meter,” voter Ndayishimiye Innocent said. “They saw that God is with us.”
Regional observers are not present after being told that arriving foreigners would face a 14-day quarantine, and on Wednesday citizens and journalists said access to social media was not possible without a virtual private network.
“The government is cutting social media so that we don’t tell the world what is happening,” said one voter, Jean Pierre Bazikamwe. Ahead of the vote, government agents were accused of harassing the main opposition party, the CNL, whose leader Agathon Rwasa is believed to be in a close race with Nkurunziza’s chosen successor in the ruling CNDD-FDD, Evariste Ndayishimiye.