Kenya opposition cries foul over vote result
Nairobi, Kenya - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta appeared headed for re-election on Wednesday but his rival Raila Odinga claimed a massive hacking attack had manipulated results, ratcheting up tensions in opposition strongholds.
Police fired tear gas to disperse a few hundred protesters in Kisumu in western Kenya as well as in Nairobi's Mathare slum, with Odinga's supporters setting up burning barricades and blocking roads with debris in both spots.
With votes from 95 per cent of polling stations counted, elec- toral commission (IEBC) results showed Kenyatta leading with 54 per cent of the over 1 mn ballots tallied against Odinga’s 44.7 per cent.
“These results are fake, it is a sham. They cannot be credible,” Odinga told a press conference in the early hours of Wednesday.
The IEBC said the results could not be considered official until they were verified by original documents from polling stations.
Odinga’s accusations, and the reaction of his supporters, again
raised the spectre of electoral violence in Kenya, still traumatised by the memory of bloody postpoll clashes a decade ago which left 1,100 people dead and 600,000 displaced.
Odinga said hackers had gained entry to the system using the identity of top IT official Chris Msando, who was found murdered and tortured late last month. “This is an attack on our democracy. The 2017 general election was a fraud,” said Odinga.
The 72 year old is making his fourth bid for the presidency as flagbearer for the National Super Alliance (NASA).
Wafula Chebukati, chairman of IEBC, insisted the poll was ‘free and fair’. “We shall carry out investigations,” he said.
This is an attack on our democracy. The 2017 election is a fraud
Raila Odinga