Kenyan court slams electoral board, confirms rigging in last election

The election board in Kenya has been criticised by the Supreme Court which slammed it for not confirming the official results of last month’s presidential election before announcing them.

The Supreme Court said the election results were rigged and also informed that the board overseeing the 2017 vote did not have all the tally forms when they announced official results, and that some forms lacked security features like water marks, signatures or serial numbers, calling their authenticity into question.

“Not every irregularity, not every infraction of the law is enough to nullify an election.

Were it so, there would not be any election in this country, or even the world, that would withstand judicial scrutiny,” said Chief Justice David Maraga.

Read also: Kenya’s presidential re-run may be postponed

But, he said, “these discrepancies were widespread … the election did not meet the simple test … we are unable to validate the result.”

However, the October 17 date set for a re-run of votes for Kenya’s presidential election may just be postponed after a French IT company that supplied the electronic system used in the nullified election told the country’s election board that its technology would not be ready to use again on the said date of re-run.

In a letter from Paris-based OT-Morpho to Kenya’s election board, dated Sept. 18 and seen by Reuters, the company said the two electronic systems it supplied for the vote would have to be reinstalled for the re-run. “This represents a very significant amount of work, which cannot be secured by October 17,” the letter read.

 

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