On 20 May 2020, more than five million Burundians lined up to cast their vote in the country’s presidential elections. This was the first set of democratic elections to take place in almost 15 years. We asked some coffee farmers what their thoughts were on this:
“I heard people saying that there is a new president. I’m happy for him.”
Jeannine. 35 years old.
“I think the elections went well. I’m an old man who only needs peace, but for young people who need change it wasn’t the same case. Since voting day, the young people from the opposition party kept being badly beaten up by the young people from the ruling party. As parents, it hurts to see this. I believe that God will use the new president to make change. I don’t want to see Burundi going back to the bad times it went through.”
Thomas. 55 years old.
“The candidate that I voted for is not the one who won, but what is important is that until now there is peace in Burundi, and people are still doing their daily activities.”
Jean-Claude. 32 years old.
“I have bad memories of the last election, and this voting period scared me. In 1993, in less than 5 hours 15 of my family members, including my father, were killed. I was the only child left in the family. I appreciate how safe these elections were. I’m not surprised by the result, as I had put in my mind that the ruling part would be the winner in Burundi. Maybe our grandchildren will change things because I don’t believe that this generation will see political freedom.”
Leonidas. 34 years old.
“The election started well. During the campaigning period people were happy, but from the voting day things went bad. My brother who is a part of the opposition party was working in a polling station. People from the ruling party were there too and had a box of voting cards. They were voting for people who weren’t even there. When my brother stopped them, they beat him and he was taken to hospital. I’m not happy about the election results because the ruling party didn’t win; they stole it instead.”
Eduard.
“I’m waiting to see what new things the president will bring. I hope that he’s going to promote the coffee crop.”
Pronie.
“I don’t know many things about the elections. I only heard people saying that they went well. I went to a polling station at a nearby primary school. I don’t know who I voted for. The person who was working at the polling station told me to put my fingerprint in front of the eagle. There were many old people voting with me who were told to put their vote in front of that eagle too.”
Bernadette. 70 years old.