Kenya’s Supreme Court to Hear Last-Minute Petition on Election Rerun
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear a last-minute petition that may meaningfully delay the rerun of the country’s presidential election, already cast into question by the withdrawal of the main opposition candidate.
The hearing Wednesday morning, set only one day before the scheduled vote, is the latest in a string of surprises that have made the election here the most high-stakes in a decade. Political rhetoric has become increasingly heated in recent weeks, with some observers saying politicians are playing on the country’s history of ethnic division, and police have sparred with protesters, sometimes using tear gas.
Kenyans initially cast presidential ballots in August, and the incumbent president, Uhuru Kenyatta, was declared the winner by a 1.4 million vote margin. But the opposition leader Raila Odinga challenged the vote, and in September the Supreme Court nullified the results and called for a rerun within 60 days.
Just weeks later, however, Mr. Odinga surprised the country and threw the new vote into question by withdrawing his candidacy. He maintains that Kenya’s election commission cannot oversee a credible poll without significant changes, including of key personnel.
Mr. Odinga’s position appeared to be bolstered by the resignation last week of one of Kenya’s election commissioners, and by a public statement from the commission’s chairman, Wafula Chebukati, that he could not guarantee “a free, fair and credible election.”
Mr. Chebukati was speaking at a news conference within hours of the resignation of the commissioner, Roselyn Akombe. She made her announcement from New York, where she had fled, she said, because of threats against her and her colleagues.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/world/africa/kenya-supreme-court-election.html
