The leader of Burundi's ex-rebel Hutus, Leonard Nyangoma, was chosen by his party on Sunday as presidential candidate for a June election, according to an AFP journalist.

Nyangoma, 58, heads the National Council for the Defence of Democracy, which came fourth in 2005 legislative elections and has five deputies in the parliament.

The Hutu lawmaker is one of the fiercest critics of president and fellow Hutu Pierre Nkurunziza.

"The current powers have failed, the current powers have badly led the country and driven it to the edge of the abyss," Nyangoma told journalists after a party congress.

"My party has nominated me as presidential candidate to revive Burundi and that is possible."

Nyangoma is the seventh presidential candidate to be declared ahead of the June general election in Burundi, a central African state struggling to emerge from 13 years of civil war that pitted the Tutsi-dominated army against Hutu rebel movements.

Source: AFP