KENYA, according to its deputy president, William Ruto, “is not the type of country where you find a president getting 99% of the vote”. That statement, made on October 16th, was tested just a week later when Kenyans went to the polls for a re-run of the election on August 8th, which the country’s supreme court annulled. When the final results were announced by the electoral commission on October 30th, Uhuru Kenyatta, the incumbent, had won (again) with 98.3% of the vote. Yet the sweeping victory seems unlikely to bring to an end Kenya’s political and emerging economic crises.
The reason for Mr Kenyatta’s huge victory was that his main opponent, Raila Odinga, an opposition stalwart and perennial candidate, withdrew from the race and called on his supporters to refuse to vote. Turnout collapsed to just 38% from almost 80% in the annulled poll of August. In two of Kenya’s 47 counties—both strongholds of Mr Odinga in western Kenya—voting did not happen at all, as Mr Odinga’s...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2A3EHnt
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