Kenya election: less than half of those eligible thought to have voted

Early estimates suggest less than half of Kenya’s eligible voters cast their ballots in the country’s controversial presidential election on Thursday , raising fears of fresh instability and potential violence.
Votes were still being counted on Friday but the chairman of the country’s election commission, Wafula Chebukati, tweeted overnight that 6.55m ballots had been cast – just 34.5% of registered voters. In an earlier statement officials had given the figure of 48%.
The low turnout will undermine the credibility of any mandate the assured winner, the incumbent president, Uhruru Kenyatta, may claim and will be seen as a victory by the opposition which had called for a boycott.
The polls on Thursday were marred by clashes between police and stone-throwing protesters in opposition strongholds. In volatile slum neighbourhoods in Nairobi, and in several western cities, crowds attempted to block access to polling stations for officials and voters.
Four people were killed in the day’s violence, with several dozen injured.
Voting in four counties has been deferred until Saturday for security reasons while electoral officials said 5,000 polling stations out of 41,000
either did not open or “did not manage to send the ‘we’ve opened signal’ .”
Government supporters have accused the opposition of using intimidation and violence to deny Kenyan citizens their right to vote.
The election is the latest act of an increasingly chaotic political drama that began when the supreme court overturned Kenyatta’s victory in the 8 August election . It cited irregularities and mismanagement by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
The turnout for that poll was 80%.
Raila Odinga, the opposition leader, withdrew from the rerun election, citing fears it would be marred by the same flaws as the August vote.
Multiple legal challenges to the new election are expected. Most analysts believe they are unlikely to provide a clear path out of the crisis and many Kenyans fear a protracted political stalemate between the Kenyatta and Odinga camps.
“Even an election will not help the situation in this country. It will not really bring down the tensions. We are still expecting a long time with intense opposition,” said Hilda Nyaga, a 27-year-old accountant who acted as a presiding officer in Nairobi on Thursday.
The supreme court judgment annulling the August poll was seen as a victory for democracy in Kenya , which is considered a bulwark of stability in a region beset by conflicts, humanitarian crises and deep environmental woes.
The crisis has further damaged the Kenyan economy, which was already under pressure from a drought which sent prices of basic foodstuffs soaring.
Kenyatta said on Thursday he would reach out to opponents, but a similar pledge after the August election did not lead to any meaningful dialogue.
“Unless the courts annul the election, Kenyatta will move forward without a clear mandate and Odinga will pursue a protest strategy whose chances of success in the circumstances are not very high,” said Murithi Mutiga, a Nairobi-based analyst with the International Crisis Group.
The poll was held in an atmosphere of acrimony and intimidation. One senior election official fled to the US last week, saying she was afraid for her personal security.
Kenya’s supreme court said on Wednesday it could not consider a petition to postpone the controversial vote because not enough justices were available to form a quorum.
Hours later, Odinga, 72, called for a campaign of civil disobedience and resistance, telling several thousand supporters in the centre of Nairobi that the polls amounted to a coup by Kenyatta.
Many electoral officials in opposition strongholds faced threats. About a quarter of those due to staff polling stations in the Kibera neighbourhood of Nairobi resigned in the 48 hours before the election.
“Because of the threats they could not make it. We are scared because we live here and we know they want to identify us,” said one presiding officer at the Olympic primary school polling station in Kibera, where only a handful of votes were cast by the end of Thursday.
Odinga’s claims of vote-rigging after his defeat in the 2007 elections prompted rioting and retaliation by security forces which tipped the country into its worst crisis for decades. About 1,200 people were killed in the ethnic violence that followed.
So far this year, 44 people have died in election-related violence since the August poll.