Kenyatta victory could worsen Kenya crisis
RENEWED protests erupted in parts of Kenya last night after Uhuru Kenyatta was declared president of a bitterly divided nation for the second time in three months.
Claiming a resounding mandate to serve a second five-year term, Mr Kenyatta accepted victory after securing 98 per cent of the vote in an election boycotted by his rival, Raila Odinga. But with just 38.8 per cent of voters choosing to participate in the election, Mr Kenyatta faces a struggle to assert his authority and legitimacy over a fractured country increasingly polarised along ethnic lines.
Dozens of people have been killed in electoral violence over the past three months and, even as government supporters held muted celebrations, rioting broke out in Nairobi’s slums, while protesters also gathered in Mr Odinga’s strongholds in western Kenya. The president also knows from experience that being declared winner of an election does not guarantee assuming office. His victory in August was overturned by the supreme court, which found “illegalities and irregularities” in the way the vote was counted.
A new challenge seems highly likely, given that the constitution requires a presidential election to be held in all 290 of Kenya’s constituencies. Voting was abandoned in 25 western counties without a ballot being cast after security forces clashed with opposition supporters trying to prevent polling stations opening.
Given Mr Odinga’s refusal to participate in the court-ordered rerun, claiming that a failure to enact reforms meant the second election would be no fairer than the first, the president’s victory looks more likely to worsen Kenya’s political crisis than resolve it.