In his first public speech since the end of the disputed presidential election in Kenya on Tuesday, defeated candidate and opposition leader Raila Odinga called it a “farce”. Odinga accused the Kenyan Electoral Commission of not having handled the elections transparently and thus violating the country’s constitution:
What we saw yesterday was a farce and a blatant violation of the Kenyan Constitution. We unequivocally and unreservedly reject the results of the presidential elections.
Kenya’s elections had taken place a week earlier, but the elections had lasted several days and the result was only announced on Monday 15 August and William Ruto, the outgoing Vice President, had been declared the winner. According to official information from the President of the Electoral Commission, Ruto would have received 50.49 percent of the votes, Odinga 48.85.
However, the result was immediately contested: four of the seven members of the electoral commission, including the vice president, said they could not confirm it, calling it “of an opaque nature”. Violent protests organized by Odinga supporters also erupted in some areas of the country.
In his speech on Tuesday, Odinga called the election result “null and void” and announced he was prepared to “use every possible legal avenue” to have it annulled. Odinga had already done so in 2017, after outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, his historic rival, won the election: even then he had accused the Electoral Commission of fraud and subsequently appealed to Kenya’s Supreme Court, which canceled the election at the time and reorganized it again from Kenyatta won. Recalling this episode, Odinga claimed that the current elections represent “a new blow to democracy” in Kenya.
At the moment there is no evidence or details of a scam. Meanwhile, candidates have seven days to file appeals.