Disputed Elections in Kenya Spark Widespread Violence
By Daniel Hollingsworth
December 31, 2007 | Printer Friendly

Multiple news sources report that the death count from violent protests in Kenya now exceeds 100, following a close presidential election between the incumbent Mwai Kibaki and his opponent, Raila Odinga held on December 27.  According to the official results, Kibaki won reelection by a slim margin, receiving 46.7% of the vote to Odinga’s 44.3%, while Kalonzo Misyoko received the remaining 9%.  The Washington Post reports that “The announcement of Kibaki's victory came nearly three full days after Kenyans voted in record numbers -- and largely along tribal lines -- in an election that international observers had initially praised as peaceful and a model for democracies across the continent.”  

The Washington Post writes that while the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya originally made comments indicating that the United States would accept the results, the State Department backed away from this support.  “‘I am not offering congratulations to anybody because we have serious concerns about the vote count,’ deputy spokesman Tom Casey said. ‘What's clear is that there are some real problems here, and that those need to be resolved in accordance with their constitution and in accordance with their legal system.’” The European Union was more immediate in questioning the validity of the results.  According to Voice of America, “The chief EU election monitor, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said Kenya's electoral commission has failed to establish the credibility of the vote-counting process, because it has not addressed reported irregularities.”  The EU originally declared the voting process on Thursday to be free and fair, but its monitors were barred from the vote counting process, prompting the EU to question the overall legitimacy of the result.  The New York Times writes the decision of the electoral commission to declare Kibaki the winner and immediately swear him in for a second term despite accusations of vote-rigging “has thrown the country into a crisis, without an obvious solution.” 

The New York Times reports that much of the violence has been along ethnic and tribal lines between the Luo and the Kikuyu, the tribe to which Kibaki belongs and “the privileged ethnic group of Kenya, who have dominated business and politics since independence in 1963. In some areas, witnesses said that mobs were stopping cars, pulling out passengers and demanding identification cards to determine whether they were Kikuyu (one can often tell by the name). If so, they were killed.”  The most deadly violence has been concentrated in the western city of Kisumu and the slums of Nairobi, both strongholds of Luo support for Odinga.  According to the BBC, “An AFP news agency count puts the death toll in Kisumu at 53 and that in Nairobi's slums at 48.”  Continuing clashes between police and Odinga supporters have also been reported in the coastal city of Mombassa.  Several police officers have told the Associated Press that they “had orders to shoot to kill protesters,” and the government has also suspended all live television broadcasts in the country.

Odinga has called on a million of his supporters to rally on January 3, after an attempt to organize the rally on December 31 was blocked by the government.  According to the Washington Post, a close adviser of Odinga said they “would not challenge the results in court, which could take years, but would ‘take our case to the court of public opinion,’ the streets.”

References:

BBC News: Scores dead in Kenya poll clashes

New York Times: Post-Election Turmoil Grows in Kenya, With Over 100 Dead

Washington Post: Scores Killed in Kenyan Election Protests

Voice of America: US Congratulates Kenya Presidential Vote Winner, EU Monitor Questions Results