KAMPALA — Constitutional court in Burundi has on Friday June 13 said the president-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye “should be sworn in with immediate effect”, ending uncertainty created by the death of President Pierre Nkurunziza this week.
Gen. Ndayishimiye won the May presidential election and faced an August swearing-in, but Nkurunziza’s death on Monday from what Burundi government reported as a heart attack left open the possibility that his ally and national assembly speaker Pascal Nyabenda might be named interim president per the constitution.
The council of ministers on Thursday decided to ask the constitutional court for guidance.
The court said there is no need to name an interim president as the election to choose a president has already been held, Burundi’s government said in a statement Friday.
It was not immediately clear when or where the swearing-in would take place.
Nkurunziza led Burundi for 15 years and his government was accused by rights groups and the United Nations of deadly repression around his quest for a disputed third term in 2015.
Angered by the scrutiny, Burundi became the first country to leave the International Criminal Court.
The government went ahead with the May election in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, allowing large rallies, saying the country had divine protection and kicking out the World Health Organization’s top official there. Many in Burundi have wondered whether Nkurunziza, last seen in public on Saturday watching a volleyball match, died of COVID-19 instead.
Ndayishimiye was the ruling party candidate in the election, defeating opposition leader Agathon Rwasa, who challenged the vote in court while alleging irregularities but lost.
