Opposition parties slam Burundi's new politics law

The opposition in Burundi has denounced the new law on political parties as a big step backwards. Adopted on Monday by the National Assembly , the new law will allow the government to reduce the number of political parties, now put at 44. For the first time in Burundi ’s history, though, political parties represented in parliament will get funding from the government.

AFP/Esdras Ndikumana

The Democratic Alliance for Change, the ADC, has slammed the new law on political parties, calling it a denial of democracy.

Zed Feruzi, the current chairman of the Alliance for Democratic Change in Burundi, which groups 12 opposition parties, says Burundi will return to a one-party system

Many opposition party leaders who are now in exile will be excluded from the political competition in so far as the new law requires them to be resident in Burundi .

Once the law is enacted, the ADC will be outlawed because the new law bans any coalition of parties except during elections, says Chevineau Mugwengezo, the spokesperson for the Union for Peace and Democracy, the UPD, who claims it is simply unconstitutional in so far as provisions of the constitution entitle two or more parties to form an alliance .

Opposition parties are also concerned about the increased power given to Home Affairs Minister Edouard Nduwimana , who has on several occasions been accused of interfering in political parties' internal affairs