Monday's thrice-delayed vote will be the first time the small central African country has seen nationwide elections since 1993 polls that led to a conflict between the Tusti-dominated army and Hutu rebels in which some 300,000 people died.

Analysts predict that pro-referendum Hutu parties, to which some 85 percent of eligible voters belong, will easily overpower opposition from Tutsi parties, which account for only 14 percent of voters.

Since independence in 1962, this tiny central African nation has been almost unceasingly ruled by the Tutsi minority. Some of them believe the constitution, in place since November but unendorsed by the population, will be their political death, for all its even-handed nature.

A leading Tutsi opposition party, the Party for National Recovery (PARENA), has urged people to vote "no" in the referendum.

Burundi's Hutu President Domitien Ndayizeye -- who earlier this month abandoned plans to modify the draft ahead of the vote to allow him to stand for re-election -- has urged a "massive 'yes' vote."

The constitution "gives the Hutu majority, which has been on the sidelines, the possibility of returning to power which was stolen from them in exchange of certain guarantees to the Tutsi minority," said one analyst.

It "is meant to bring a lasting peace in this country whose past is punctuated by numerous inter-ethnic wars," he said.

Under the constitution, the president will have two deputies from the different ethnic groups while 60 percent of the cabinet will be Hutu and 40 percent Tutsi.

Representation in the parliament, made up of a National Assembly and Senate, will be apportioned on a 50-50 basis with Hutu and Tutsi parties required to field candidates from both ethnicities to reach the mix, the document foresees.

The army and the police force will also be equally split along ethnic lines, the constitution says.

"Monday will be a historic day for Burundi because it is an important step in the peace process for all Burundians," said Carolyne McAskie, chief of the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB).

Burundi is still struggling to recover from the war but is enjoying relative peace with only one out of seven rebel movements having refused to sign a peace deal and still fighting. Even this movement has pledged to do nothing to interfere with the voting process.

The conflict erupted after the 1993 assasination of Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu who was the country's first democratically elected president, in an attempted military coup.

The conflict developed into a civil war, which came to an end only in 2003 when the main rebel force reached a peace deal with the transitional government set up under an accord signed at Arusha in neighbouring Tanzania in

Monday's referendum has been postponed three times since last year for logistical reasons and is the first step in a seven-tier election now set for April 22.

On that date, Burundians will vote directly for members of parliament who will then elect a president at an as-yet undetermined date. The president must then appoint a government.

The constitution's success nearly assured and the analyst said its expected approval would be important mainly "as a curtain raiser before the actual elections."

In the unlikely event that the constitution is rejected, it will still be in force until the end of the electoral process and will be left for the new government to deal with.

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