Reuters: The head of Kenya’s election commission has said it will be “difficult” to guarantee that next week’s presidential election will be free and fair, citing divisions in the commission and interference from politicians.
Wafula Chebukati issued a stern warning to politicians, saying: “Ironically, the very people, political leaders, who are supposed to build the nations have become the greatest threat to the peace and stability of the nation.”
The Oct. 26 poll is the re-run of an election that took place in August, where incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory was nullified on procedural grounds.
But the run-up to the new poll has been fraught, with Kenyatta’s main challenger, opposition leader Raila Odinga, pulling out, alleging a failure to improve the oversight of the election, and one election commissioner fleeing abroad and saying she feared for her life.
Kenyatta on Wednesday restated his commitment to the poll, but Odinga called for a mass protest on election day.
The head of the election board told a news conference that technical preparations for the new poll were on course, but that his attempts to make “critical changes”, notably to staff, had been defeated by a majority of commissioners. He also said he had come under pressure to resign.
“Under such conditions, it is difficult to guarantee a free fair and credible election,” he said.
“Commission under siege”
Roselyn Akombe, another of the board’s eight members, said in a statement from New York, dated Tuesday, that the “commission has become a party to the current crisis” and was “under siege”.
The Supreme Court last month nullified the Aug. 8 vote on procedural grounds following a petition by Odinga.
In withdrawing his candidacy last week, Odinga said the election board had not carried out reforms including the firing of key officials who he blames for the mistakes of Aug. 8.
But Kenyatta has shown no sign of compromise. In a televised speech on Wednesday, he said: “We walk towards the declared date of the 26th of October both as a God-fearing leadership and government.”
The uncertainty over the vote has affected financial markets: the central bank sold dollars in the foreign exchange market after the Kenyan shilling weakened on news of Akombe’s resignation.
Kenya is East Africa’s richest country and a hub for diplomacy and security in a region struggling with conflict in Somalia and South Sudan.
At least 37 people have died in violence since the August vote, including four killed in confrontations between police and protesters in the past week. Young protesters have also broken up meetings by election officials in the opposition stronghold of western Kenya this week.
Spectre of 2007
Akombe urged Kenyans to remember the violence that followed a disputed 2007 poll, when more than 1,200 people were killed. She told BBC radio that she had fled to New York after receiving numerous threats that came from both sides.
She said commissioners were serving partisan interests, and legal advice was being skewed for political reasons.
A week before the August poll, the election commission’s head of IT was found tortured and murdered in Nairobi, raising fears of a possible hack of the commission’s computer systems.
The election board has officially stated that it has conducted some reforms and the vote will go ahead – with Odinga on the ballot.
Kenyan law requires that the new election be held within 60 days of the cancellation of the original vote, but Odinga says his withdrawal should trigger a new, 90-day election cycle.
The ruling party has used its parliamentary majority to pass amendments to the electoral law curtailing the grounds on which the Supreme Court can nullify an election.
Odinga has called near-daily demonstrations this month to protest against the election body and the draft electoral law, which the president has yet to sign. The protests have mostly been small and police have used tear gas to quash them.
This week, police raided homes belonging to wealthy opposition financier Jimi Wanjigi and said they had found a cache of weapons. Wanjigi said in an emotional interview that the firearms were licensed and that he was being persecuted.
On Tuesday, Deputy President William Ruto said Odinga had pulled out of the race to avoid a “humiliating defeat”.
Efforts by diplomats, religious leaders and civil society leaders have so far failed to bridge the divide.
