Vers une démocratie durable au Burundi?

The report evaluates Burundi's democratic transition from 2005 to 2009. While the 2005 elections ended a decade of civil war and established a power-sharing framework, the ruling CNDD-FDD party has since consolidated power by marginalizing the opposition, repressing civil society, and undermining constitutional checks and balances. The author describes the regime as a 'semi-democracy' and warns that these governance failures, combined with institutional weakness and corruption, could threaten the country's stability ahead of the 2010 elections.

• The 2005 elections were generally viewed as 'libres et équitables' by international observers and marked the end of a civil war that lasted from 1994 to 2005.
• The CNDD-FDD achieved a dominant position in the 2005 elections, winning 62.6% of municipal votes and 58.2% of legislative votes, which allowed it to establish itself as the leading political party.
• Despite constitutional requirements for power-sharing, the CNDD-FDD has effectively seized control of the executive, legislative, and judicial powers, eliminating essential democratic checks and balances.
• The regime is currently characterized as a 'semi-democracy' due to an 'authoritarian drift' and repeated violations of the 2005 Constitution by the CNDD-FDD.
• Political opposition and civil society have faced significant repression, including arbitrary arrests, torture, and extrajudicial executions, often orchestrated by the National Intelligence Service (SNR), National Documentation (DN), and Internal Security Police (PSI).
• State institutions suffer from low capacity and high levels of political patronage, with CNDD-FDD members occupying nearly 80% of public service positions, often based on party loyalty rather than merit.
• Widespread corruption has undermined government credibility, with notable scandals including the underselling of a presidential aircraft and the misappropriation of European Union financial aid in 2006.
• The integration of the Palipehutu-FNL into the political system is critical for peace; the group officially registered as a political party (FNL) in April 2009 after the Magaliesburg agreement.
• There are significant concerns regarding the 2010 elections, specifically the potential for systematic manipulation by the CNDD-FDD and the risk of violence due to the proliferation of small arms among the civilian population.

APA

Falch, Å. (2009). Vers une démocratie durable au Burundi? Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/dd79c214-a9ba-4060-9660-6a91edb0af24/Falch 2009 Vers une dmocratie durable au Burundi PRIO Paper.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Falch, Åshild. Vers une démocratie durable au Burundi? Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2009. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/dd79c214-a9ba-4060-9660-6a91edb0af24/Falch 2009 Vers une dmocratie durable au Burundi PRIO Paper.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Falch |first1=Åshild |title=Vers une démocratie durable au Burundi? |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=May 2009 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/dd79c214-a9ba-4060-9660-6a91edb0af24/Falch 2009 Vers une dmocratie durable au Burundi PRIO Paper.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{falch2009vers, author = {Falch, Åshild}, title = {{Vers une démocratie durable au Burundi?}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2009}, month = may, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/dd79c214-a9ba-4060-9660-6a91edb0af24/Falch 2009 Vers une dmocratie durable au Burundi PRIO Paper.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }