NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s electoral commission said Wednesday that it would go ahead with a repeat of the recent presidential election, even though one of the main candidates has said he is withdrawing from the race because he does not believe it would be free and fair.
The commission said it was opening up the new vote, scheduled for Oct. 26, to other candidates who had run in the initial election in August. But with the opposition leader Raila Odinga declaring his withdrawal, President Uhuru Kenyatta is likely to win easily in a contest against six other candidates who failed to win much support in the earlier election.
Mr. Odinga has contended that the Supreme Court, not the electoral commission, should be in charge of overseeing the election.
In a statement, the commission said that “candidates for the fresh presidential election scheduled for 26th of October shall include all eight candidates who participated in the 8th August presidential election.” It added that Mr. Odinga had not formally withdrawn from the election.
The new vote was ordered by the Supreme Court last month, after it nullified the August election in response to Mr. Odinga’s complaints of voting irregularities. The electoral commission had declared Mr. Kenyatta the winner of the Aug. 8 vote, with 54 percent of the ballots, to 44 percent for Mr. Odinga — a margin of about 1.4 million votes.
But in its ruling, the court found that senior poll officials had not followed electoral procedures properly to ensure a credible vote. It was the first time in Africa that a court had nullified the election of an incumbent.
For weeks since the court ruling, Mr. Odinga has demanded that senior poll officials be replaced and prosecuted. He has also called for the replacement of the companies in charge of printing ballot papers and providing the devices needed for the electronic transmission of results, areas that the court found to have been flawed.
Western diplomats have criticized Mr. Odinga for making too many demands, which could have the effect of undermining confidence in the electoral commission’s ability to hold the new vote. Mr. Odinga has called for protests to take place until the commission makes the changes he seeks.
On Wednesday, hundreds of his supporters demonstrated in Nairobi, the capital, and in some opposition strongholds around the country, demanding the resignation of senior election officials.
“Can you go into an election with the same cooks who poisoned your food?” said Janet Ongera, an opposition lawmaker from Kisii, a city in western Kenya.
“This will add even more sulfuric acid,” Ms. Ongera added. “What we want is a level playing field.”
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in September, Mr. Odinga and Mr. Kenyatta, along with the electoral commission, have failed to reach an agreement on how to conduct the new election.
Analysts say that with shrinking campaign funds and worries of eroding support, Mr. Odinga was most likely playing for time by withdrawing from the race.
Mr. Odinga appeared to be pushing for a later date for the new election, based on his interpretation of a 2013 ruling that calls for a new vote to take place within 90 days if a candidate suddenly dies. An extended campaign would give the authorities more time to make the electoral changes sought by Mr. Odinga.
Earlier in the day, before the election commission’s decision, Kenya’s Parliament passed a set of amendments to the electoral law that seemed intended to ensure a victory by Mr. Kenyatta. One measure said that in an election or runoff with only two candidates, if one withdraws, the other would be automatically declared the winner.
Another amendment would bar the Supreme Court from nullifying a presidential election unless violations of the Constitution or electoral law significantly altered the outcome.
That measure was widely criticized as an attempt by the government to clip the judiciary’s wings. Although the parliamentary vote was boycotted by opposition lawmakers, it passed with the support of Mr. Kenyatta’s party.
Source – The New York Times