Kenyan president gets second term
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday was officially declared the winner of a heated election, which an opposition coalition claims to have won.
The electoral commission announced that Kenyatta won just over 54 percent of the vote Tuesday, compared with 45 percent for his rival, Raila Odinga.
Leaders of the opposition National Super Alliance rejected the results before they were announced, saying they had obtained figures from the commission’s computer server showing that Odinga won just over 50 percent of the vote.
A senior opposition figure, Musalia Mudavadi, said his coalition had raised “very serious concerns” with the commission on Friday and had requested that the announcement be delayed.
“We are saying that we are not going to be a part of it,” he said, referring to the result. “The issues we raised have not been adequately addressed.”
Wafula Chebukati, the electoral commission’s chairman, had earlier declined to give the opposition access to the body’s computer system in exchange for a promise to accept the results contained on its server, saying he would deal with the opposition’s concerns after the announcement.
The result, which had been expected by mid-afternoon, came after darkness fell. Senior opposition figures ruled out a court challenge and called on Kenyans to support them, raising fears of a reprise of the deadly ethnic violence ignited by another disputed election in 2007.
Accusations by the opposition in recent days that the electoral commission’s computers have been hacked have undermined the already fragile public trust in the commission and its electronic tabulation system, sparking protests in some areas.
It is the third successive election that Odinga, 72, has lost and disputed. In a nation where ethnicity plays a large role in voter loyalties, and political power is often used to hand out jobs and patronage to ethnic allies, Odinga’s Luo supporters feel marginalized and excluded.
As the results were being tabulated, opposition officials repeatedly asserted that the figures displayed by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission differed from those on the commission’s server — a claim rejected by the commission. The opposition also alleged that the commission had not received around 11,000 of the official tally forms compiled at more than 40,800 polling stations.
The opposition has the option to challenge the result in court, although Odinga did so unsuccessfully in 2013. While campaigning this year, Odinga insisted that if he lost again, it meant that the election must be rigged, and he hinted that he might call for protests.
Kenyatta, 55, the son of Kenya’s first president after independence from Britain, appeared jubilant, waving from the roof of his limousine as he sped from his home to his party headquarters before the result was announced.
Wild celebrations broke out among Kenyatta’s supporters in some areas, as expectations about the result rose.
But a senior opposition figure, James Orengo, said the country would remain calm only if the commission was open and transparent about its work.
“If they can open those servers, we are willing to accept the result based on what is in those servers,” he told reporters earlier in the day. “There should be no rush to judgment. We have some way to go. We still have a process. The matter may not be closed as soon as some people think.”
Shortly before the announcement, Orengo addressed reporters again, calling the result “a charade” and accusing the electoral commission of violating Kenya’s constitution.
Orengo said going to court was “not an option” and “Kenyans always rise up.”