Burundi Urged to Establish Permanent Electoral Body

Burundi has been urged to urgently set up an independent and permanent electoral commission. EU special envoy Roeland Van de Geer said Wednesday that such a commission would ensure a free and fair contest in elections slated for 2010. The country’s last elections, which brought President Pierre Nkurunziza to power in 2005, were conducted by an electoral body that was later disbanded without replacement. [PE]