The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
High court confirms Kenyatta as president
Rival candidate says he will not accept two election results.
NAIROBI, KENYA — Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday dismissed two petitions seeking to overturn last month’s presidential vote, paving the way for the inauguration of President Uhuru Kenyatta for a second term.
The unanimous decision is the latest — and, it seems, final — stage of Kenya’s unexpectedly prolonged presidential election cycle, which erupted this weekend into clashes between opposition supporters and police that were broadcast on live television.
Kenya has been through two presidential elections this year, both of which have come before the Supreme Court for review. The court nullified Kenyatta’s Aug. 8 win, citing irregularities. On Monday, it dismissed two petitions against his Oct. 26 victory, saying they lacked merit.
Raila Odinga, a veteran opposition politician who challenged Kenyatta in both votes, has said he will not accept the outcome of either election held this year — neither the original Aug. 8 vote, nor the Oct. 26 rerun.
“I’m not a sore loser; I’m a democrat,” Odinga said in an interview last week. “If I do lose, I’d like to be able to declare the winner fairly.”
The unrest pushed Odinga out of the country. He left Kenya on Sunday night, according to Salim Lone, a longtime adviser to Odinga and his political party. He is now in Zanzibar, off the coast of mainland Tanzania, Lone said.
The Supreme Court matter had centered on the fairness and constitutionality of the latest vote. Petitioners had claimed that Kenya’s election commission had not acted impartially and had not followed the constitution properly when it organized the Oct. 26 election, which was thrown into turmoil when Odinga withdrew from the race just weeks before ballots were to be cast. He had argued at the time that the process could never be free and credible.
Then, one week before the vote, an election commissioner fled the country, citing threats to her life, and resigned. The chairman of the commission said political interference by both parties threatened the credibility of the vote. And on the eve of the election, the Supreme Court was unable to hear a last-minute challenge over the process, because too few judges showed up.
The court did not provide reasons for its latest ruling, citing time constraints, but said it would issue a full judgment within 21 days. Kenya’s election commission has said that Kenyatta garnered 7.5 million votes in the Oct. 26 election, with a turnout of 38 percent. The opposition, however, disputes both figures.
Though ostensibly the final step in the protracted battle over who leads Kenya, John Githongo, a civil society activist and publisher of the Kenyan online political magazine The Elephant, said the ruling did little to solve the underlying problems that the election cycle exposed. Increasingly entrenched political language on both sides, he added, further contributes to the tension.
“The fundamental systemic problem that has led to the space that we’re in remains completely unresolved,” Githongo said. “There is now no longer any space for compromise, at least given the rhetoric that is coming out now. No one can afford to back down.”
Odinga had urged his supporters to boycott the Oct. 26 poll, and it appeared that many listened. Turnout was noticeably lower than it had been in August, and in western Kenya, an opposition stronghold, more than 20 districts did not vote at all. Odinga’s supporters blocked the entrances to polling stations with bricks or other obstructions.