Kenyan poll body postpones voting in 27 constituencies after violence

Imprimer

Nairobi, Kenya, October 28 (Infosplusgabon) - The repeat presidential election planned to take place in four counties in Western Kenya on Saturday have been postponed indefinitely after threats to poll officials and insecurity, poll chief Wafula Chebukati said on Friday.

 

The Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said the officials of the elections body were threatened with dire consequences and attacked.

 

The decision to postpone the election means there would be no results from 27 constituencies as required before the winner of the election is declared.

 

But without the results, the IEBC Commissioners might be forced to seek the advice of the Supreme Court before announcing the winner.

 

The Kenyan constitution requires an election to be declared after the counting of votes and results from the 290 constituencies.

 

Religious leaders from Western Kenya said the election should be postponed and asked the IEBC to take away its poll materials.

 

Bishop David Kodia, an Anglican prelate, said the religious leaders from Western Kenya, decided it was "not acceptable" to subject the residents of the counties in Western Kenya to chaos by trying to force them to vote.

 

"It is not acceptable to subject us to further chaos to a level not commensurate with the entire process of election," Bishop Kodia said.

 

The religious leaders said every candidate in the election should be content with the votes they receive after the poll.

 

"It appears they are determined to go on the killing spree. We will never condone violence. But every human being has a right to self-defence. Let us explore the path to peace," Bishop Kodia said, emphasizing that the pain of death inflicted on civilians in Nyanza region was equally as painful as any other in any part of the country.

 

"The  lives of the street protesters is as important as the life of acting Interior Ministry Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i's son," Kodia added.

 

At least five people were killed on election day.

 

On Friday, more people were killed in Bungoma, where a teenager was shot ostensibly for "trying to snatch a gun from a policeman," according to Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka.

 

In Nairobi, two policemen were lynched by mobs as the police charged at crowds attempting to blockade various polling stations.

 

According to a witness, a policeman was killed with a block of building stone as he aimed his gun at a demonstrator in Nairobi's Mathare North area, a witness told  Infosplusgabon.

 

The witness said the policeman appeared to have died from internal bleeding. Blood oozed from the ears after the stone dropped from a storey building landed on his neck.

 

Meanwhile, the main opposition coalition, NASA, Principal Musalia Mudavadi, said the opposition estimated close to 70 people have been shot dead since the August General Elections.

 

"The IEBC has been exposed. They did what they planned to do on August but now they do not know what to do to sanitise the flawed vote," Mudavadi said. "Kenyans have finally opened the servers. The tally has finally come out. How could the President have lost 4 million votes in just two months."

 

President Uhuru Kenyatta headed to a landslide victory with some 7 million votes based on a count of 35,000 poll centres.

 

"We are used to winning this game in the past few years. We are waiting for the declaration," said Raphael Tuju, Jubilee Party Secretary General, speaking to a KTN journalist.

 

Tuju said if the opposition claimed to stick to rule of law, they should have allowed voting for the supporters of Kenyatta in their strongholds.

 

 

 

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AML/GABON 2017

 

 

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