Burundi’s top court has made a ruling aimed at ending the power vacuum created by the sudden death of President Pierre Nkurunziza on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Constitutional Court said President-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye should be sworn in as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legally, the Speaker of parliament, Pascal Nyabenda, should have become the interim leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the cabinet decided to refer to the court and now Mr Ndayishimiye is due to become president two months early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was elected in May to replace President Nkurunziza, who had been in power for 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Burundi’s top judges said that in the constitution the interim period under the speaker of parliament was designed as a time to hold fresh elections, but the president-elect’s recent victory made this unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Nkurunziza had been able to run for a fourth term in last month’s election but decided to retire and was to be known as the “supreme guide to patriotism”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government said he died of a cardiac arrest after being taken ill on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There have been numerous reports that Mr Nkurunziza died after contracting coronavirus but these have not been confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SOS M\u00e9dias Burundi, which is made up of exiled journalists, quoted both a medical source and another close to the government as saying that the late president had Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government has not responded to the reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Nkurunziza appeared to downplay the pandemic several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early March, before the country confirmed its first case, he said that “God will protect us” from coronavirus, then just a week before he died, he said “God has cleared [coronavirus] from Burundi’s skies”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The country has recorded just over 80 cases of the virus and there has been one confirmed death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Burundi is currently in a week-long period of national mourning following Mr Nkurunziza’s death and the cabinet has suspended the playing of secular music in public places during this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials say gospel music is still allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Nkurunziza was a born-again Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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