Burundi’s ruling party chose President Pierre Nkurunziza to run for a third five-year term on Saturday, a move critics say is unconstitutional and may trigger. Opposition groups promised protests if Nkurunziza ran, saying it would undermine a peace deal that has kept the country calm for a decade since an ethnically fuelled civil war ended in 2005. Two months before the presidential election, Nkurunziza was nominated at a meeting of nearly 1,000 members of his party. “No one will stop the CNDD-FDD party,” the president declared. “I call people to go to the election in peace,” he said after the decision. “But I would like to warn everyone: whoever wants to create problems with the ruling party elected by the people, he’ll find himself in trouble.” Party chairman Pascal Nyabenda urged the police and security forces to take action against any street protesters. Burundi’s constitution says the president is elected for a five-year term, renewable only once. But Nkurunziza’s supporters say his first term should not count because he was chosen by parliament rather than having been voted into office. The ruling party says it will be up to the constitutional court to hear any appeals against its candidate. Opponents say they do not trust the courts to give them a fair hearing. “Once Nkurunziza is declared the candidate, we won’t wait. The next day, over 300 civil organisations engaged in a campaign against a third term for Nkurunziza will descend on the streets,” prominent civil society activist Pierre Claver Mbonimpa said. Opposition politician Agathon Rwasa urged anyone protesting to avoid violence, but said he was not calling for demonstrations now to avoid giving the ruling party a reason to “harass and persecute people.” He called on regional countries and international powers to put more pressure on the president to step aside. Some opposition supporters staged street protests earlier this month, including on April 17 when demonstrators scuffled with police. Any clampdown on rallies could stoke tensions in a nation which has suffered from decades of ethnic violence. African leaders and Western nations have been pushing Nkurunziza not to run. The United States and the European Union indicated they could take steps if violence erupted. Agencies “On sanctions, I don’t think we have mouthed the word, but we are practising the lip movements,” one senior Western diplomat in the region said before the decision, adding any such action would target individuals behind violence, not the nation.
