Tense Kenya awaits election results
NAIROBI: Kenya nervously awaited yesterday the final results of its presidential election, with the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta holding a strong lead after a vote marred by opposition claims of rigging and the death of four people.
Tensions are high in the east African nation where, a decade ago, post-poll bloodshed left 1,100 people dead.
“We find ourselves at across roads once again,” the Daily Nation newspaper warned grimly.
“The nation is sitting precariously on the precipice. The dispute over poll results is creating needless anxiety.”
A longtime government adversary making what is likely his last bid for office, Raila Odinga is badly trailing Kenyatta, according to a provisional count of Tuesday’s ballot, released by the electoral commission (IEBC).
Odinga carried 44.8 per cent of the vote to Kenyatta’s 54.3 per cent with 97 per cent of polling stations reporting.
But Odinga charged that hackers broke into the IEBC’s systems and rigged the count – an allegation that fuelled uncertainty in what was already a tight race.
“This is an attack on our democracy. The 2017 general election was a fraud,” said Odinga, alleging detailed evidence of the hackers’ movements.
The claim was denied by IEBC chief executive Ezra Chiloba, who said that the crucial electronic voting system – seen as key to avoiding fraud – had not been compromised.
“Our election management system is secure. There was no external or internal interference to the system at any point before, during or after the voting,” he told a press conference.
It remained unclear whether final results would be officially published yesterday.
Under Kenya’s electoral law, the definitive results must be published within a week of polling.
On Wednesday, isolated groups of protesters chanting ‘No Raila, no peace’ took to the streets in the western city of Kisumu and the slums of the capital Nairobi. — AFP