Kenya re-elected the politician despite a drastic drop in voter turnout

Leer en Español: La victoria de Kenyatta

Uhuru Kenyatta was re-elected as president of Kenya after an overwhelming victory with which he took 98.26% of the votes. This is a result of the second elections being held after the first ones were thought to have been tampered with. The requests was led by the opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Voter turnout was of 38%, a drastic drop in comparison to the first elections that were held back in August. The president of that organization, Wafula Chebukati, said that “these new elections ,after the previous ones were invalidated in August, have been free, fair, and credible”.

Raila Odinga, the main opponent of the elected president, announced days before the second round of elections that he was withdrawing from the presidential race and sought to cancel the elections. The judicial branch ordered the process to be continued, which resulted in the victory of Kenyatta due to the lack of rivals at the polls.

In fear of repeating the outcome of the 2007 post election violence, in which ethnic clashes occurred after Odinga did not recognize his defeat leading to the death of more than 1,100 people and the forced displacement of another 600,000, the government took preventive measures. On this occasion, 14 people have been killed in clashes between supporters of the opposition and the police, according to information offered by local media.

The international community is concerned about the political instability that is emerging in the African country. The US ambassador, Robert Godec, called for an “immediate, sustained, and transparent national dialogue” to maintain peace in Kenya, in which all political forces must participate.

Meanwhile, many Kenyans are affirming that since the elections are not being held in all polling stations of the country, the outcome cannot be considered valid; they have been rioting so that everyone within the nation can exercise their right to vote. However, the constitution states that voting should only take place in all electoral districts, not in all polling stations.

In said case that a petition for re-elections is filled it must be done within the next seven days. If accepted, representatives of the judicial system would communicate what would be the appropriate next step for the government, which may be negative due to the fact that the death toll is increasing in the country as consequence of political disagreements.

Latin American Post | Carlos Eduardo Gómez Avella

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