The Catholic Church in Burundi on Tuesday evening denounced “many irregularities” that affected the transparency and fairness of the May 20 general elections which saw the victory, contested by the opposition, of the candidate of the ruling party General Evariste Ndayishimiye.

“We deplore many irregularities with regard to the freedom and transparency of the electoral process as well as fairness in the treatment of certain candidates and voters,” said the President of the Burundi Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Joachim Ntahondereye.

Bishop Ntahondereye, who was speaking in a sound recording transmitted Tuesday evening to AFP by the conference’s communication services, then drew up a long series of irregularities similar to those denounced by the party of opposition leader Agathon Rwasa, officially runner-up in the presidential election.

We deplore many irregularities with regard to the freedom and transparency of the electoral process as well as fairness in the treatment of certain candidates and voters.

The Catholic Church “deplores in particular the coercion exercised on certain proxies to sign in advance the counting of the contents of the ballot boxes, the stuffing of some ballot boxes, the voting in place of deceased and refugees, multiple and therefore invalid proxies, the fact that there were in some polling stations voters who voted more than once”.