Defeated presidential contender Raila Odinga challenged his election loss in court on Saturday, alleging widespread ballot rigging in a fresh test of Kenyan democracy five years after a disputed vote triggered deadly tribal violence. Shortly before the petition was filed, police outside the Supreme Court fired teargas to disperse a rally of around 100 Odinga backers. They were urged by the outgoing prime minister to stay calm and trust in the law to resolve his complaint.
Odinga's complaint threatens to prolong the period of uncertainty shadowing east Africa's largest economy. Analysts say a swift, transparent resolution of the row will be critical to restoring Kenya's reputation as a stable democracy. Big Western donors worry about a nation seen as a vital ally in a regional struggle against militant Islam.
Odinga, head of the CORD coalition, refuses to accept the slim first-round election win by Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court over the explosion of bloodshed in 2007 that left more than 1,200 people dead. The March 4 election and aftermath was largely peaceful by contrast. Kenyatta declared the vote "free and fair" in his victory acceptance speech, though he added that the electoral process could be made more refined and efficient in the future.
Kenya's electoral commission (IEBC) had promised a smooth election but the collapse of an expensive new electronic voting system led to a five-day wait for the winner to be announced. Odinga's petition alleges widespread rigging and accuses the IEBC of inflating voter registration numbers and going ahead with the election aware that its systems were going to fail.
"These failures dwarf anything Kenyans have ever witnessed in any previous election," Odinga told reporters on the doorstep of his office in the centre of the capital Nairobi. "Every mechanism and every instrument the IEBC deployed failed miserably. Its failure and collapse, on a catastrophic scale on the polling day, so fundamentally changed the system of polling and the number of votes cast."
Kenyatta comfortably beat Odinga in terms of votes won, 50.07 percent versus 43.28 percent, but only narrowly avoided a run-off after winning just 8,100 votes more than the 50 percent needed to be declared the winner outright. That slim margin has given Odinga allies confidence that they can force a run-off through the courts, though the petition calls for the whole process to be declared null and void.
Kenyatta said his Jubilee coalition would respect the rule of law and the outcome of the petition filed by CORD. "If the decision is not in our favour, then we are ready to face the electorate again," Kenyatta said. By the time the petition was filed in the early afternoon, hundreds of Odinga supporters gathered outside the court, many wearing T-shirts with slogans such as "democracy on trial".
"I am not happy with the election results, since my rights have been stolen. President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta is not my choice," Florence Bolo, an Odinga supporter, said outside the Supreme Court. Others shouted: "Uhuru must go!" "We Kenyans want justice and I am crying for the Supreme Court to look at this case as critical and come out with a fair judgement," said Hamsa Omondi, a 21-year-old street vendor. Traffic was moving freely through Nairobi and there were no signs of further unrest in the capital.
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