Burundi’s Nkurunziza elected for third term

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has won a third five-year term as the leader of the small east African nation, the country’s electoral commission said on Friday, after a vote marred by violence and a boycott by the opposition.

Pierre Claver Ndayicariye,

head of the electoral commission, told reporters Nkurunziza had won 69.41 percent of the votes cast. Nkrunziza’s nearest rival, Agathon Rwasa, took 18.99 percent.

The vote took place on Tuesday, despite calls by African leaders and Western powers for it to be delayed due to rising insecurity and the boycott by opposition candidates whose names remained on the ballot paper, Reuters says.