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Kibaki 'stole' Kenyan election
through vote-rigging and fraud
By Steve Bloomfield in Nairobi
Published: 23 January 2008
Systematic electoral fraud including vote-rigging in a third of
all constituencies, stuffed ballot boxes and election officials
changing results had a decisive impact on the outcome of the
Kenyan elections, an investigation by The Independent can reveal.
In 88 of the 210 constituencies, turnout was at least 1,000 votes
higher in the presidential election than in the parliamentary poll
conducted at the same time. This amounted to a total of 380,944
votes, considerably more than President Mwai Kibaki's winning
margin of 231,728. Even when suspect voting practices in
opposition candidate Raila Odinga's strongholds are accounted for,
the extra votes for Mr Kibaki total about 350,000.
Violence, sparked by the disputed election results, has raged for
almost a month and yesterday the former UN secretary general Kofi
Annan flew into Nairobi – the latest in a line of African
statesman to get Mr Kibaki and Mr Odingato sit down together and
try to find a way to resolve the crisis.
According to election observers, ballot boxes were stuffed by both
sides. In one constituency, Mr Odinga won 100.5 per cent of valid
votes. In Maragwa, a constituency with near-total support for Mr
Kibaki, turnout was 115 per cent.
When the result was queried the returning officer was allowed to
reduce the turnout to a more acceptable figure. Under Kenyan
election law votes from that constituency should have been
excluded.
Observers also reported that counts were changed by returning
officers in local polling centres, as well as staff at the
National Electoral Commission in Nairobi, largely to favour the
incumbent bidding for re-election. Koki Muli, a senior Kenyan
observer, said: "They added 5,000, 10,000, 15,000 – whatever they
wanted. It was bizarre. We had results which were quite outrageous."
In some constituencies the total announced for Mr Kibaki at
electoral headquarters in Nairobi was higher than that announced
at regional tallying centres in the presence of foreign observers.
An additional 25,116 votes were added in Molo and 17,677 in Kieni.
In North Imenti, Mr Kibaki won 78,684 votes, but official ECK
results gave him an extra 5,324. In a handful of constituencies
where Mr Odinga was strong, the results were reduced by election
commission officials in Nairobi. In Changamwe, Mr Odinga won
28,340 votes to Mr Kibaki's 14,813. However, the official result
announced at the election headquarters put Mr Odinga on 17,706 and
Mr Kibaki on 9,366, reducing Mr Odinga's lead by 5,187.
Mr Odinga had been leading by more than one million votes after
the first day of counting following the 27 December ballot, but
after days two and three the gap narrowed as results came in from
constituencies where Mr Kibaki's support was strong. Mr Kibaki was
declared the winner amid scenes of chaos on 30 December, although
later the head of the electoral commission said he had been
pressured by members of the ruling Party of National Unity (PNU)
and could not be sure who had won.
The breakdown of votes raises questions about what went on in
those crucial three days between polls closing and the result
being announced. On 29 December, Mr Odinga was narrowly ahead with
just 21 constituencies left to be counted. The official Electoral
Commission results from those constituencies would have given
Kibaki a lead of 40,000, less than a fifth of his eventual winning
margin.
According to several people with knowledge of the events, senior
PNU officials began to worry after the count in Nairobi's
Kamukunji constituency was cancelled because of allegations about
extra ballot papers. Observers say that PNU officials, realising
it would have been impossible to announce Mr Kibaki's victory by
40,000 votes while Kamukunji's 119,000 votes had been declared
void, worked with Electoral Commission staff and changed results
in other constituencies, to give Mr Kibaki a bigger margin of
victory.
The government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, dismissed the numbers as
propaganda: "Let an independent body go through the evidence,
separate the wheat from the chaff."
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