Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye has been named as the candidate of his ruling party for the presidential election due to be held next year, the party said on Sunday.

Ndayishimiye, 57, has been head of state of the poor East African country since 2020, taking over following the death of longtime leader Pierre Nkurunziza.

His ruling party, the CNFDD-FDD, said in a post on X that Ndayishimiye was its choice to run for a seven-year mandate in the poll. No firm date for the election has been given.

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Ndayishimiye reacted on X by thanking the party's members "for putting their trust in me".

"As you have already seen, with what we have done up to now, I pledge to continue the work we are doing, with all of you, so that all of Burundi profits in peace," he said.

Ndayishimiye, a general and former ruling party head who held various roles under Nkurunziza, is the favourite going into the election.

He was first elected president in May 2020, in polls marked by accusations of fraud and the disqualification of his main opponent.

A spokesman for one of the opposition parties said the upcoming election "will not be an election by international standards."

"Ndayishimiye has already spent more than five years without providing fuel, foreign currency or the basic necessities the population needs," said Epitace Nshimirimana, a spokesman for Movement for Solidarity and Development (MSD), whose leader is in exile.

"This means he is being given another seven years to go on impoverishing and destroying the country," he added.

Since taking power, Ndayishimiye has vacillated between opening up the government to lessen the influence of powerful generals and maintaining a firm grip on the country.

The United Nations and NGOs have condemned rights violations in the landlocked country of 15 million people, which ranks among the world's poorest.