Kenyan Opposition Threatens Protests Over Electoral Body CEO

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s opposition National Super Alliance threatened to stage street protests and prevent a rerun of last month’s annulled presidential election if the head of the country’s electoral authority refuses to step down.

Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba should be removed or the opposition will hold “mass demonstrations,” Norman Magaya, the CEO of the five-party alliance, said by phone Tuesday from the capital, Nairobi. “There will be no election.”

The opposition group also plans to start “contempt proceedings” against the IEBC for failing to comply with a Supreme Court order to allow full scrutiny of its computer servers.

Kenya’s top court annulled the Aug. 8 presidential vote, won by President Uhuru Kenyatta, after finding the election hadn’t been conducted in accordance with the constitution. Opposition leader Raila Odinga has called for electoral body officials including Chiloba to be removed before the rerun takes place on Oct. 17. The chairman of authority last month wrote to Chiloba asking him to explain a series of failures in last month’s ballot.

The commission on Monday signaled that there will be no changes to its executive body when it announced that “one team with a common vision” will handle next month’s rerun. It said Chiloba has been tasked with assessing the “implementation challenges” in the August vote.

Former Kenyan Justice Minister Martha Karua has asked the country’s High Court to annul the entire election, including gubernatorial, senatorial and legislation votes, citing “irregularities and illegalities,” the Nairobi-based Star newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Source: Bloomberg Business News