Politics

Investigation into Kenya's electoral commission

26 Sep, 2017

Kenya extends date for new presidential poll by nine days.

Kenya's chief prosecutor has ordered a probe into the country's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to investigate whether it was responsible for electoral or criminal offences leading to the now invalidated 8 August presidential election.

News of the investigation comes days after IEBC set a new date for the presidential re-run following the supreme court's decision to invalidate the contentious 8 August result in which incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner by a margin of 1.4 million votes.

The IEBC had originally set a date of 17 October for the new poll but has since postponed this until 26 October. The supreme court ordered a re-election after Kenyatta's rival Raila Odinga alleged there were electoral irregularities in the presidential poll.

Kenyatta, of the multi-party Jubilee Alliance, recently described the re-election as a "judicial coup" against the will of the people. Opposition candidate Odinga, of the National Super Alliance (NASA), has threatened to boycott the new poll unless the IEBC adheres to his list of demands, which include the sacking of several of its top officials. In early September the electoral commission reshuffled some of its top management team. link.

The political climate in Kenya is becoming increasingly charged, reviving concerns of political violence. Following Kenya's 2007 polls an estimated 1,100 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced across the country.