October vote for Kenyans

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga will face each other in a new presidential election on October 17, the electoral commission said, after the Supreme Court annulled last month’s vote.

Kenyatta and Odinga and their running mates will be the only candidates for the poll, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said in a statement in the capital, Nairobi, yesterday.

“The commission is revising the operational and procedural requirements for the conduct of the fresh election and will share details with stakeholders” soon, it said.

The authority is awaiting details of the court’s judgment “to identify areas that require improvement in the management of the fresh election”, it said.

Kenya’s top court on September 1 upheld the main opposition’s complaint that Kenyatta’s victory in the August 8 vote was aided by rigging in a shock decision that marked the first time a court in Africa has overturned the results of a presidential election.

Odinga waged unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1997, 2007 and 2013. The Supreme Court threw out his allegations of rigging in the 2013 vote that propelled Kenyatta to power, a ruling Odinga has previously described as a “travesty of justice”. Kenyatta said on Friday that while he didn’t support the ruling, he will respect it.