Power and opposition in Burundi

In African countries, the absence of peaceful political changeover is nothing other than a sign of the democratic deficit. It is therefore easy to understand why some authors strongly emphasise that alternation of power today characterises "functioning democracies", that it has become the criterion of a democratic regime. Nothing is simpler than knowing whether a political regime is democratic or not. Alternation can only take place if there is a bipolarisation of political forces, with a majority on one side and an opposition seeking to replace it on the other. In African countries such as Burundi, however, the opposition is finding it difficult to exist and seems to be unable to offer an alternative to the current government, to the point where some suspect that it is not concerned with long-term changeover but is seeking short-term integration into a hegemonic system that excludes any possibility of changeover in its vision of the political game, particularly given its domination of the electoral game.