Tutsi parties have boycotted Burundi's parliament when it sat to approve the country's draft constitution that incorporates power-sharing arrangements between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, according to reports reaching here Thursday.

Six political parties, representing the central African state'ssmall but traditionally dominant Tutsi minority, led by UPRONA, stayed away from the parliamentary session on Wednesday.

The Tutsi parties were complaining that too much power had beenput by the constitution into the hands of the Hutus. They wanted the country's presidency to be rotated every five years between a Tutsi and a Hutu with the president and his sole deputy co-managing the country.

Under the draft constitution, however, one president will be elected and will be assisted by two deputies from two different ethnic groups of the country.

The Tutsi parties challenged the draft constitution as having violated the 2000 Arusha peace accord that aims at bringing to an end a decade of ethnic conflicts between Hutus and Tutsis.

The Burundian parliament agreed on Wednesday to a new timetablefor the central African state's first popular elections in more than a decade. The new timetable arranged local elections to be held in February next year, followed by parliamentary polls in March and presidential elections in April.

The parliament also agreed to extend the function of President Domitien Ndayizeye's transitional governance until the elections. The mandate of the transitional government had been due to expire on Oct. 31 this year.

Source: Xinhua