Senate of Burundi (2010)

The 2010 Senate of Burundi sat from 2010 to 2015.

Background
In October 1997 the first Hutu President of Burundi, Melchior Ndadaye, was assassinated. This led to a civil war in which about 300,000 people died. The first elections after the official return of peace were held in July 2005 under a constitution which gave quotas in the National Assembly of Burundi and Senate of Burundi for Hutu, Tutsi and Twa candidates, and well as quotas for women. The National Council for the Defence of Democracy – Front for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) won large majorities in both chambers. Pierre Nkurunziza of the CNDD-FDD was elected President.

There were various upheavals during the term of this government. The former CNDD-FDD leader Hussein Radjabu was expelled from the party, some parliamentarians defected to the opposition in protest and were also expelled from the CNDD-FDD, the CNDD-FDD, Uprona and Frodebu formed a coalition government, the Constitutional Court threw the CNDD-FDD defectors out of office, 12 members of Frodebu defected to form Frodebu-Nyakuri in alliance with the CNDD-FDD, and a new electoral law was passed in which senators and deputies lose their mandate if they defect or are expelled from the party on whose platform they were elected.

2010 national election
Local council elections were held in May 2010, won by the CNDD-FDD. The opposition parties claimed the results were fraudulent. Presidential elections were held in June 2010, boycotted by the six opposition candidates. The main opposition candidate, Agathon Rwasa of the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), went into hiding before the election. The sole remaining candidate, incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza, was re-elected with 91.62% of the votes. On 23 July 2010, 66.68% of the 3.5 million registered voters voted for National Assembly members. Again several opposition parties boycotted the elections. The CNDD-FDD won 80 seats. Uprona won 16 seats. Frodebu-Nyakuri, allied with the CNDD-NDD, won 4 seats.

Indirect elections to the Senate of Burundi were held in local councils on 28 July 2010. The National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Front for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) won 32 seats of the 34 that were contested. The Union for National Progress (Uprona) won two seats. Three Twa members were coopted, including two women. The four former presidents (Domitien Ndayizeye, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, Jean-Baptiste Bagaza and Pierre Buyoya) continued to serve as senators, making 41 senators in total. The Senate elected Mr. Gabriel Ntisezerana (CNDD-FDD) as President of the Senate on 20 August 2010.

Summary of election results
In summary, election results were:

Members
Members of the senate elected on 28 July 2010 were: