Kenya politician Raila Odinga called the outcome of the Aug 9 presidential election a “travesty,” which he was adjudged to have lost to Deputy President William Ruto, and warned of a protracted legal crisis confronting Kenya ‘s democracy on Tuesday.
His initial comments on the outcome came after four of the seven election commissioners stated they were stuck by their decision to disavow statistics published by electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati a day earlier.
Fears of violence have been raised following disputed votes in East Africa’s richest country in 2007 when more than 1,200 people were slain, and again in 2017, when more than 100 people were killed.
Overnight, Odinga supporters clashed with police and torched tyres in the western city of Kisumu and Nairobi’s massive Kibera slum, but the streets were peaceful by Tuesday morning.
“Our view is that the figures announced by Chebukati are null and void and must be quashed by a court of law,” Odinga, a veteran opposition leader and five-time presidential candidate who was endorsed this time by departing President Uhuru Kenyatta, said.
“What we saw yesterday was a travesty,” he told reporters, urging his followers to remain calm. “Let no one take the law into their own hands,” he said.
Before taking the podium, Odinga televised the news conference of the dissident commission members. He stated that he was not yet ready to announce particular legal actions.
Odinga has till Monday to submit a constitutional appeal to the Supreme Court.
Speaking on behalf of the four commissioners, electoral commission deputy chair Juliana Cherera stated that the results showing Ruto winning with 50.49% were erroneously aggregated and that Chebukati had ignored concerns voiced by other commissioners concerning the tally.
Cherera eventually admitted that one of her primary allegations was based on a clerical mistake. She had previously stated that the vote percentages for the race’s four contenders were 100.01%, and that the remaining 0.01% constituted 142,000 votes, which might potentially tip the result.
Odinga was beaten by Ruto by around 233,000 votes.
In response to a Reuters question, Cherera later admitted that 0.01% of the 14.2 million votes cast was really 1,420, but that the result still demonstrated a lack of data quality control.
The electoral commission’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
