Kenya election rerun in doubt as acrimony deepens

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Doubts are growing over Kenya’s ability to hold a rerun of its presidential election in just one month as key players remain unable to agree on how to conduct a credible vote, analysts say.

Bickering on all sides and confusion over the process have only increased as the clock ticks down to the October 17 vote, called after the Supreme Court annulled the initial election, citing widespread irregularities.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has vowed to boycott the poll if a list of demands are not met and on Sunday he launched a nationwide campaign “against any election” run by the current electoral commission (IEBC), which he accuses of rigging the first poll.

“The challenges are pretty extraordinary,” said John Githongo, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner in Kenya, who said he believed the election date “does not seem feasible because we are asking people who have failed calamitously to run an election after such a short time”.

A key hurdle is that the Supreme Court has yet to deliver its full judgement detailing why exactly it decided to annul President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory.

Chief Justice David Maraga mentioned only “irregularities and illegalities”, notably in the transmission of election results. (see ruling page 2)

The court has until September 22 to deliver the full ruling, which would give the IEBC little time to make any necessary changes.

“It is very uncertain,” said Nic Cheeseman, a professor of African politics at the University of Birmingham in England.

“We don’t know if the Supreme Court is going to say something about technology, we don’t know if they are going to directly impugn any of the individuals in the IEBC. Will they have to be replaced? If so, how will that be done in the time frame?”

– ‘Paralysis’ and confusion –

In the absence of the judgement, the electoral commission has pushed forward with plans for a new election, dismissing opposition calls to sack its top officials.

“It was expected that the IEBC would move swiftly to undertake far-reaching reforms. So far this has yet to happen,” the Daily Nation newspaper said in an editorial on Saturday, denouncing a “stalemate which has created paralysis and is confusing the public”.

Fissures within the IEBC, meanwhile, were exposed when a leaked memo showed chairman Wafula Chebukati outlining a raft of irregularities in the election to the commission’s chief executive Ezra Chiloba.

Kenyatta, for his part, has insisted that the election go ahead as planned, accusing his longtime rival Raila Odinga of seeking to block the vote as a way of forcing the president to accept a coalition government.

On Thursday, the National Super Alliance (NASA) of opposition parties addressed a letter to the IEBC with a list of demands including the dismissal of certain officials, a change in the procurement of election materials and live media coverage of the declaration of results at tallying centres.

“We hereby reiterate that there will be no elections on October 17” unless these conditions are met, the alliance said.

“IEBC as currently constituted… cannot conduct a free and fair election in October,” Odinga said on Sunday.