Kenya is close to violence due to presidential election annulment

The Kenyan Supreme Court canceled the results of the appointment of a new leader because ” [it] was not conducted in accordance with the Constitution”

All eyes are on Kenya these last few days. The European Union and some others international organizations are afraid of ethnic violence raise within said country and calls for a peaceful presidential election after the National Supreme Court annulled the last governmental appointments due to irregularities.

The International Society is worried that this electoral decision would lead to violence between the followers of Uhuru Kenyatta, the actual president and the winner of the annulled elections, and the leader of the National Super Alliance (NASA), Raila Odinga.

Before the president election, Odinga won 3 out of 4 important polls. However, according to the electoral body, the victory was given to Kenyatta with a 7% advantage over his opponent five days after the election.

Since the country’s independence back in 1964, the governmental power in Kenya has been disputed between the Kiyukus tribe (22% of the population), the Luhyas (14%), and the Luos (13%). Kenyatta, son of the country’s first president, is member of the Kiyukus ethnicity and his most important political rival, Odinga, is from the Luos clan.

Kenya’s history has been linked with some ethnic tensions. All the presidents in the country’s history (except for Daniel Arap Moi) are members of the Kiyukus ethnic group, so any kind of political dispute can be transformed IGNORE INTO ethnic violence. For example, after rumors of electoral fraud in the 2007 elections where Odinga lost, a ethnic war killed close to 1,500 people and thousands of refugees.

The new elections are programmed for the next 17th October where the president, Uhuru Kenyatta, hopes to win again.

Latin American Post | Santiago Gómez Hernández

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