Burundians protested when Pierre Nkurunziza decided to seek election for a third term in violation of the Arusha Accords. Photo: Carl de Souza/ AFP)
Burundi’s recent legislative elections delivered a final blow to political pluralism in the small Central African country. The ruling party won all contested seats in the National Assembly and the Senate. Local elections wrapped up last week, ending an electoral cycle that started in June.
While the Constitutional Court validated the outcome, it reflects not a triumph of democracy but its hollowing out. Without opposition, the legislature is now officially a tool of the ruling party, the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (known by its French acronym the CNDD – FDD).
Not long ago, Burundi was seen as a relative beacon of democratic openness in the Great Lakes region. In the years following the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement (called the Arusha Accords) ending decades of civil war in 2005, Burundi made fragile progress in expanding freedoms. Armed groups laid down their guns and created political parties to contest power through ballots rather than rebellion.
South Africa played a pivotal role in brokering the accords. Nelson Mandela became the chief mediator at the request of regional leaders, bringing global attention and credibility to the peace process. Using both moral authority and good old-fashioned political pressure, he pushed for compromises between the ethnically divided armed groups and established hard deadlines. By 2005, the country held its first post conflict elections and in the early 2010s, Burundi had multiple active political parties, vocal civil society organisations and a robust, if embattled, independent press.
While political violence and murder undermined elections in 2010, citizens then could still gather, protest and organise. Opposition figures tested the space and spoke out, called for boycotts and challenged outcomes. Radio stations and newspapers provided platforms for public debate. There was hope for a real and growing political pluralism and an understanding that no one party or ideology could claim a monopoly.
That vision began to falter in April 2015, when demonstrations broke out in response to then-president Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek election for a third term, a violation of the Arusha agreement. Political upheaval and widespread killings by security forces and armed opposition groups gripped the country. Police used excessive force and shot demonstrators indiscriminately, killing and injuring scores. Members of the ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, were especially brutal. After that, Burundians experienced a gradual return of violent rhetoric and tactics reminiscent of the civil war.
In 2020, Évariste Ndayishimiye was elected president. The CNDD-FDD has since further consolidated power. His government suspended the main opposition party, the National Congress for Freedom (CNL) in 2023 under vague accusations of destabilisation. Police and Imbonerakure harassed and arrested opposition leaders while the courts, under the thumb of the executive and the ruling party, were used to stifle activity.
The CNL was eventually reinstated, but its longtime leader, Agathon Rwasa, was sidelined. Independent journalists have been imprisoned, forced into exile and “disappeared”. Civil society organisations that once played watchdog roles have been systematically silenced, and many are forced to work from outside the country. In this environment, opposition voices lack support because they are barred from participating.
During the latest elections, the atmosphere was devoid of competition and the Imbonerakure stood at polling places, putting pressure on voters to support the CNDD-FDD, undermining even a pretence of political choice.
Parliament, which should be a space for debate and oversight, is now a rubber-stamp body. The government will be less accountable in a dangerous climate of impunity and economic uncertainty as high inflation rates and a scarcity of hard currency continue to drive severe fuel and other shortages.
Burundi is not alone in its authoritarianism. Political space in neighbouring Tanzania has narrowed in recent years, with restrictions on opposition activity, media and civil society limiting open democratic participation. To the north, the Rwandan government projects a façade of pluralism while Paul Kagame’s ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front maintains tight control over dissent. The only outspoken opposition leader was jailed in June. Independent critics there risk arrest, exile, or worse.
Burundi’s latest elections show a different playbook with a similar objective: remove the opposition not by the will of voters, but by decree and intimidation.
The Arusha Accords recognised the need for multi-party politics. Political pluralism is not only about which party wins. When citizens believe that electoral outcomes are predetermined and that dissent is punished, hard-earned trust in democratic institutions erodes. In a country with Burundi’s history of political violence and ethnic tension, the suppression of peaceful, democratic alternatives have had destabilising consequences over time.
Burundians and the country’s international partners, including those who brokered the Arusha Accords, should not accept this as the new normal. A resilient democracy requires more than elections; it requires genuine competition, respect for essential rights including free expression and assembly, and institutional respect for diverse voices. Burundian authorities should stay true to the Arusha agreement and foster a climate for genuine pluralism instead of stifling dissent.
Antoine Kaburahe is a journalist, writer and editor. In 2008, he founded Iwacu, one of the last independent media outlets in Burundi. He has been living in exile since 2015. Lewis Mudge is the Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch.