Burundi's constitutional court has approved President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term, the ruling party chairman said on Tuesday, a move that will anger protesters who say his decision to run again violates the constitution.

"It has given its decision already," Pascal Nyabenda, chairman of Nkurunziza's ruling CNDD-FDD party, told Reuters in a text message when asked about the court's deliberations. Asked if it had approved the election bid, Nyabenda wrote: "Yes!"