Court allows scrutiny of Kenyan votes
KENYA’S Supreme Court ordered the elections commission to allow the opposition, which is disputing the results of this month’s presidential vote, access to its computer servers and electronic devices used in the vote-count.
Election authorities said President Uhuru Kenyatta easily won a second term in the August 8 polls by 1.4 million votes.
A parallel tally by independent monitors based on a sample of about 2 000 polling stations produced a similar result.
But opposition leader Raila Odinga is disputing the results, which sparked scattered protests in parts of Kenya.
Odinga was among those inside the packed court yesterday, while outside police had deployed in large numbers.
James Orengo, a senior opposition official and lawyer, told the court that the alleged irregularities could not be considered as minor transgressions leaving the result in question and requiring the annulment and rerunning of the vote.
Another opposition lawyer, Otiende Amollo, said tally sheets had been doctored in “a consistent pattern, that is: increase the votes for Uhuru Kenyatta and decrease the votes for Raila Odinga”.
Odinga challenged his last election defeat in 2013, but lost in court.
In 2007, widespread and violent street protests followed the declaration of Odinga’s loss and a rights group said yesterday that police had once again used excessive force to crush opposition protests following this month’s vote.
“The brutal crackdown on protesters and residents in the western counties, part of a pattern of violence and repression in opposition strongholds, undermined the national elections,” Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), Otsieno Namwaya, said.
HRW said police shot dead some people, wounded others, raped women and stole property while putting down the protests in parts of the country. – AFP, Reuters