 |
| Winner: The technocratic incumbent, Mwai Kibaki, was sworn in again Sunday. Sayyid Azim/AP |
Kenya reelects Kibaki president amid controversy
Protests erupted Sunday after electoral officials announced that the incumbent won Thursday's vote.
from the December 31, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 2
Page 1 | 2
Concerns of violence
As night fell in Kibera, the massive slum of 1.2 million people that makes up Odinga's parliamentary constituency, residents reportedly erupted into the streets after hearing the news, looting shops, lighting houses on fire, and pelting police with stones.
The police responded with water cannons and tear gas. The violence followed a day of relative calm as Kenyans remained glued to their television sets to await the results and to hear how election officials would resolve contentious charges from both parties of vote tampering and manipulation of results.
Police helicopters hovered over the capital, and some 30,000 police officers were deployed through the streets to restore calm.
But observers predicted more unrest to come, especially in light of Odinga's announcement late Sunday that he rejected the results as rigged and would hold his own alternative inauguration Monday.
Chief European Union observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said doubt remained over the accuracy of the count.
"We regret that it has not been possible to address irregularities about which both the EU and the ECK have evidence ... some doubt remains as to the accuracy of the result of the presidential election as announced today," he said.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Kenya's former colonial ruler had "real concerns" about reported irregularities.
Hassan Omar Hassan, a spokesman for the Kenyan National Human Rights Commission, called the way in which the Election Commission announced the results "cowardly and perverse." It is the responsibility of the Election Commission and not the courts to determine whether the election process was free and fair and to vet charges of vote tampering, he added, and said that street protests by Odinga's supporters were almost inevitable.
"I don't rule out street protests, and if Kenyans want to do street protests, they have a legal and constitutional right to do so, said Mr. Hassan. "I urge the members of the military and the disciplined forces [which includes police and paramilitary] to exercise restraint and not to create pandemonium against their own people."
• Material from Reuters was used in this report.
1 | Page 2
RSS feed
