EXPLAINER: Why Kenya’s presidential election is important
2 years, 4 months ago

EXPLAINER: Why Kenya’s presidential election is important

Associated Press  

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyans are voting Tuesday to choose a successor to President Uhuru Kenyatta after a decade in power. The 77-year-old Odinga, famous for being jailed while fighting for multi-party democracy decades ago, has promised cash handouts to Kenya’s poorest and more accessible health care for all. In his final campaign speech on Saturday, he said that if elected, his government in its first 100 days would begin paying 6,000 shillings to families living below the poverty line. “I want you to know that we as a country are at an inflection point,” Odinga told the crowd listening to his campaign speech Saturday. Ruto said Saturday he will “respect the decision of the people of Kenya” and won’t accept violence or participate in anything that undermines the constitution.

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History of this topic

The ‘ungoverning’ of Kenya
4 months, 3 weeks ago

The ‘ungoverning’ of Kenya

Al Jazeera  

One of the most interesting grammatical elements of Kiswahili, the most widely spoken African language in the world, is that you can always create the negative form of an infinitive verb. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has recorded at least 50 protest deaths – the highest number of protest-related deaths in the country’s independent history. I call this …

Kenya’s Supreme Court upholds Ruto’s narrow presidential win
2 years, 3 months ago

Kenya’s Supreme Court upholds Ruto’s narrow presidential win

Associated Press  

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday unanimously rejected challenges to the official results of the presidential election and upheld Deputy President William Ruto’s narrow win in East Africa’s most stable democracy. In his first comments Monday night, he didn’t mention Ruto by name but said “it is my intention to oversee a smooth transition to the next administration.” …

Kenya's Supreme Court upholds William Ruto's narrow presidential win
2 years, 3 months ago

Kenya's Supreme Court upholds William Ruto's narrow presidential win

The Hindu  

Kenya's Supreme Court has unanimously rejected challenges to the official results of the presidential election and upheld Deputy President William Ruto's win. The commission “needs far-reaching reforms,” the court acknowledged, “but are we to nullify an election on the basis of a last-minute boardroom rupture?” The court shocked Kenyans in the previous election in 2017 by overturning the results of …

Kenya presidential vote loser files Supreme Court challenge
2 years, 4 months ago

Kenya presidential vote loser files Supreme Court challenge

Associated Press  

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s losing presidential candidate Raila Odinga has filed a Supreme Court challenge to last week’s election result, asserting that the process was marked by criminal subversion and seeking that the outcome be nullified and a new vote be ordered. It asserts “premeditated unlawful and criminal subversion of the integrity and constitutionality of the electoral process in order …

Kenya’s president-elect will ‘engage’ in any court challenge
2 years, 4 months ago

Kenya’s president-elect will ‘engage’ in any court challenge

Associated Press  

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan president-elect William Ruto says that if there’s a court challenge to the election results, “we will engage in those” as East Africa’s most stable democracy awaits a likely petition from losing candidate Raila Odinga. Ruto, Kenya’s deputy president, was declared the winner of last week’s close election on Monday, but the electoral commission publicly split minutes …

Defeated Kenyan presidential candidate to challenge election result
2 years, 4 months ago

Defeated Kenyan presidential candidate to challenge election result

The Independent  

Kenya is on tenterhooks after defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga called into question the validity of the country’s election result, dismissing it as “null and void”. The day after his opponent William Ruto was announced as the president-elect by a thin margin, Mr Odinga said he will challenge the verdict in the country’s courts. His comments came shortly after four …

Kenya’s Ruto declared president after last-minute chaos
2 years, 4 months ago

Kenya’s Ruto declared president after last-minute chaos

Associated Press  

NAIROBI, Kenya — In a chaotic announcement that could foreshadow a court challenge, Kenya’s electoral commission chairman on Monday declared Deputy President William Ruto the winner of the country’s close presidential race over five-time contender Raila Odinga. Odinga’s campaign alleged that unspecified “electoral offenses” were committed and that a winner was illegally declared without a quorum of commissioners. Odinga’s campaign …

Drama, disappointment in Nairobi as Ruto wins Kenyan election
2 years, 4 months ago

Drama, disappointment in Nairobi as Ruto wins Kenyan election

Al Jazeera  

There was drama and disagreement across parts of the Kenyan capital after Deputy President Ruto was declared president-elect. She was ready to spend another week celebrating if former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, her candidate for president and a massive favourite in Kibera, won, she told Al Jazeera on Monday afternoon. Just after 6pm, Wafula Chebukati, chairperson of the Independent Electoral …

Brief scuffles slow tallying in Kenya’s close election
2 years, 4 months ago

Brief scuffles slow tallying in Kenya’s close election

Associated Press  

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s peaceful presidential election saw a brief disruption when riot police responded to scuffles at the national tallying center amid tensions over the close results. “We must all avoid raising tensions that could easily trigger violence,” local human rights groups and professional associations said in a joint statement Sunday urging restraint from candidates and their supporters. The …

Slow tallies in close Kenya presidential vote feed anxiety
2 years, 4 months ago

Slow tallies in close Kenya presidential vote feed anxiety

Associated Press  

NAIROBI, Kenya — Vote-tallying in Kenya’s close presidential election isn’t moving fast enough, the electoral commission chair said Friday, while parallel counting by local media stopped or dramatically slowed amid public concerns about censorship or meddling. The head of the government-created Media Council of Kenya told The Associated Press that “no one has asked anyone to stop” their tallies, but …

Kenya’s close presidential election draws fewer voters
2 years, 4 months ago

Kenya’s close presidential election draws fewer voters

Associated Press  

NAIROBI, Kenya — Fewer Kenyans voted Tuesday in an unusual presidential election where a longtime opposition leader who is backed by the outgoing president faces the brash deputy president who styles himself as the outsider. “I have confidence that the people of Kenya are going to speak loudly in favor of democratic change,” Odinga told journalists. Outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, …

Voters cast their ballots in Kenyan presidential election with low turnout
2 years, 4 months ago

Voters cast their ballots in Kenyan presidential election with low turnout

NPR  

Voters cast their ballots in Kenyan presidential election with low turnout Enlarge this image toggle caption Nickolai Hammar/NPR Nickolai Hammar/NPR Kenyans headed to the polls on Tuesday in a presidential election pitting a veteran opposition leader against the sitting deputy president. In a twist, outgoing Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who isn't running for reelection, threw his support behind his longtime …

Explained | Why Kenya's presidential election is important
2 years, 4 months ago

Explained | Why Kenya's presidential election is important

The Hindu  

Kenyans vote Tuesday to choose a successor to President Uhuru Kenyatta. The 55-year-old Mr. Ruto promotes himself to the young and poor as a “hustler” who rose from humble beginnings as a chicken seller in contrast to the elite backgrounds of Mr. Kenyatta and Mr. Odinga. The 77-year-old Mr. Odinga, famous for being jailed while fighting for multi-party democracy decades …

Infographic: How do the Kenyan elections work?
2 years, 4 months ago

Infographic: How do the Kenyan elections work?

Al Jazeera  

Kenya, one of Africa’s most vibrant democracies, votes on Tuesday. Nairobi, Kenya – On August 9, Kenyans are heading to the polls to pick the country’s fifth president in what pundits say will be a hotly contested election. Declaring victory To be declared winner in Kenya’s winner-takes-all electoral system, a presidential candidate has to receive more than half of all …

Kenya’s election rips open scars of inequality, corruption
2 years, 4 months ago

Kenya’s election rips open scars of inequality, corruption

Associated Press  

NAIROBI, Kenya — In the shadow of a glossy, thousand-dollar campaign billboard, one of many across Kenya’s capital, street vendors struggle to make even 200 shillings a day and often pocket none. “But I’m a poor man, and maybe the way I talk is distant from the way it is.” Rising prices for food and fuel, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion …

Fifty days to D-day: The men vying to become Kenya’s next president
2 years, 6 months ago

Fifty days to D-day: The men vying to become Kenya’s next president

Al Jazeera  

Nairobi, Kenya – On August 9, Kenyans head to the polls to elect their next president. The two main challengers remain opposition leader Raila Odinga, for whom Kenyatta has publicly declared his support, and William Ruto, the president’s deputy. Odinga, one of Kenya’s most popular politicians, is the patriarch of a dynasty that began with his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, …

Who do Kenyans want for their next president?
2 years, 8 months ago

Who do Kenyans want for their next president?

Al Jazeera  

On Monday, April 25 at 19:30 GMT: Kenya is set to hold general elections on August 9 and Kenyans are bracing themselves for a tumultuous run-up to the polls. President Uhuru Kenyatta will stand down after serving the maximum of two five-year terms, but he doesn’t leave his deputy president William Ruto with his endorsement. Ruto, who served as a …

Kenya’s President Kenyatta backs his former rival Odinga in polls
2 years, 9 months ago

Kenya’s President Kenyatta backs his former rival Odinga in polls

Al Jazeera  

The move comes weeks after the two leaders’ parties joined forces ahead of a general election in August. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has endorsed his former archrival for the country’s top job, weeks after their parties joined forces ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections in August. “We have chosen Raila Odinga, without any opposition, to be the fifth president of …

Kenyan opposition leader Odinga announces fifth bid for president
3 years ago

Kenyan opposition leader Odinga announces fifth bid for president

Al Jazeera  

Odinga says he is committed to building ‘democratic and progressive Kenya’ as battle for Kenyatta’s successor heats up. Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga has announced he would make his fifth bid for Kenya’s presidency in next year’s election, ending months of suspense following a surprise truce with his former foe, President Uhuru Kenyatta. The truce, known universally as “the handshake”, …

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