Kenyan election annulled after result called before votes counted, says court

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Source: The Guardian

Kenyan election annulled after result called before votes counted, says court

Supreme court blames failings by electoral commission for its decision to annul results of August vote

Jason Burke Africa correspondent
Wednesday 20 September 2017 16.31 BST

Kenya’s supreme court has said it annulled presidential elections held in August because the polls were “neither transparent nor verifiable” and blamed the country’s electoral commission for the shortcomings.

Uhuru Kenyatta, the incumbent president of the east African state, won a second term by a margin of 9%, defeating his long-term rival, Raila Odinga, in the election last month. The country now faces new elections in October, and possible lengthy political instability.

The court’s majority decision to annul the poll – the result of which was announced three weeks ago – surprised many observers and embarrassed local, African and western observers who said they had found no major problems with the election.

On Wednesday, the court offered a detailed explanation of why it annulled the 8 August election – the first decision of its kind in Africa.

Reading out portions of the judgment, Philomena Mwilu, the deputy chief justice, said the court had upheld the opposition claim that the election result was declared before all results from Kenya’s more than 40,000 polling stations had been received.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/20/kenyan-election-rerun-not-transparent-supreme-court

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