Voters in Burundi are casting their ballots on Thursday in the East African country’s first legislative elections since 2020.

Burundians will elect lawmakers to serve on the National Assembly, the 123-member lower house of Burundi’s Parliament. A total of 100 deputies are directly elected, while the remaining 23 are known as co-opted members.

The National Assembly vote uses a closed-list proportional representation system, with voters choosing party lists rather than individual candidates.

Seats are allocated based on each party’s share of the vote, under ethnic quotas that reserve 60% for Hutus, 40% for Tutsis, and three additional seats for the Twa minority.

Dominant party

The vote marks the first national vote since the death of former President Pierre Nkurunziza and the first organised under the leadership of his successor, President Evariste Ndayishimiye.

The 56-year-old Ndayishimiye won the May 2020 presidential election and assumed office earlier than planned, following Nkurunziza’s unexpected death after serving three terms.

Ndayishimiye’s governing Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), a former rebel group turned political party, has dominated Burundian politics since 2005.

The CNDD–FDD secured a supermajority in the last legislative election in 2020.

Burundians are due to return to the polls on July 23 to elect members of the Senate in the country of 13.5 million.