Kenya poll result ‘rigged’ – Odinga
Fears of violence mount as Kenyatta leads official count
KENYA’S opposition leader Raila Odinga said yesterday the election commission’s computer system had been hacked and false results posted to show President Uhuru Kenyatta with a strong lead in a case of massive fraud.
The election commission said Tuesday’s vote was free and fair, and it was investigating whether or not its computer systems and vote-tallying database had been compromised. Odinga’s comments raised concerns of unrest over the results in Kenya, east Africa’s leading economy and a regional hub. About 1 200 people died in violence after a disputed election in 2007.
Speaking at a news conference, Odinga urged his supporters to remain calm, but added: “I don’t control the people.”
His deputy, Kalonzo Musyoka, also called for calm but said the opposition might call for “action” at a later date. He gave no details.
Shortly after Odinga spoke, police fired tear gas to scatter a group of about 100 supporters in the western city of Kisumu, an opposition stronghold. The unarmed men had been chanting “No Raila, no peace”.
As of 11am, the election commission website put Kenyatta in front with 54.3% of votes compared with 45% for Odinga – a margin of nearly 1.4 million ballots with more than 95% of polling stations reported.
Odinga published his own party’s assessment of the count on Twitter, saying he had 8.1 million votes against 7.2 million for Kenyatta.
The main local election monitoring group said its parallel vote tally was incomplete, so it could not comment on the differing figures. Foreign observer missions declined to comment.
Kenyatta, a 55-year-old businessman seeking a second five-year term, had held a steady lead of around 10% since the start of counting after the peaceful vote.
Odinga, 72, a former political prisoner and self-described leftist, described the reported hack as an attack on democracy and published 50 pages of computer logs on his Facebook page to support his claims.
Despite its multimillion-dollar electronic voting system, the crucial evidence on voting comes from the paper forms signed at each of the country’s 41 000 polling stations. The Kenya Human Rights Commission, a well-known NGO, said it had discovered some discrepancies between provisional results on the election commission website and the paper forms.