At least 3 dead as Kenya awaits election results amid challenge
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan police opened fire Wednesday to disperse rioters in several areas after presidential challenger Raila Odinga alleged election fraud, saying hackers used the identity of a murdered official to infiltrate the database of the election commission and manipulate results in favor of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
At least three people were killed. Several attackers with machetes were later shot after an assault on a Kenya polling station.
As Kenyatta held a strong lead in provisional results with 96 percent of all polling stations counted, the election commission defended the voting system as secure, saying there were “no interferences before, during and after” Tuesday’s election.
Election officials verifying the final Wednesday night.
It was unclear how long it would take, though by law election officials have up to a week from the election to announce the results.
Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Kenya’s ability to secure its voting system “appears to be very, very strong.” Kerry is leading a mission of election observers who have monitored Tuesday’s vote and its aftermath. were tallies
Odinga, a former prime minister, blamed Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party for the alleged hacking.
Soon after Odinga claimed on television that the election had been rigged, angry protesters in the Nairobi slum of Mathare and poor areas in the opposition stronghold of Kisumu in the southwest burned tires, set up roadblocks and clashed with police.
Many parts of Kenya remained calm, but the violence stirred memories of the unrest that followed the 2007 vote in which over 1,000 people were killed. Odinga lost the 2007 and 2013 elections.