CDP Inserukarukamvye party to participate in 2020 elections at any cost

Anicet Niyonkuru, chairman of Patriots Council –CDP Inserukarukamvye party returned to Burundi from exile in the evening of 11 December. When he arrived at Melchior Ndadaye International Airport, Niyonkuru said “he came to prepare for the upcoming elections scheduled for May 2020.”

Anicet Niyonkuru “CDP Inserukarukamve has decided to participate in these next elections whether the political climate will be favorable or hostile,”

At a press conference held on 13 December, he said his party will participate in the 2020 elections at any cost. “In 2010 and 2015, the opposition parties boycotted the elections arguing that the political climate was not conducive to holding credible and transparent elections. CDP Inserukarukamve has decided to participate in these next elections whether the political climate will be favorable or hostile,” Niyonkuru says.

He indicates that his party is determined to compete with the ruling party. “We have confronted fear. We must participate in these elections,” he highlights.

He recognizes, however, that the political space is not open to everyone. “We hear that members of some political parties are arrested in different parts of the country while others are refused the permission to conduct their political activities,” says Niyonkuru who believes that every politician has a crucial role in improving the prevailing political climate.

He calls on the government to allow all political parties to conduct their activities freely in order to promote democracy. “The political space is not sufficiently open, but we have to play the role in improving it. Burundi is our homeland, we cannot abandon it, we must rather make it perfect, “added CDP chairman.

Anicet Niyonkuru has been the executive secretary of the opposition platform in exile CNARED from 2016 to November 2019. He indicates that he resigned from this function to become more interested in the activities of CDP party.

CNARED has already expressed its willingness to participate in the next 2020 elections on condition that “the political climate be improved.”