Honest Voting

Tomorrow (as I write this), Kenya will hold five by-elections, less than six months after an election fraught with accusations of voter intimidation and bribery, violence, and deaths. Fears of another violence-filled election have unnerved the international community so much that they’ve sent former UN leader Kofi Annan to help mediate a solution. Aweys Yusuf writes for Reuters South Africa that at least 1,300 people died in two months of struggles after Kenya’s December 27th election, and 300,000 people were displaced. (Other sources peg those numbers lower; I’m still trying to get a handle on those sources’ bonafides.)

A Sapa-AFP article says that Kenya’s electoral board was implicated by some in the alleged widespread fraud that took place during the vote counting process in December. Fierce battles between rival political parties have marked recent Kenyan elections.

Two of the by-elections, says the article, will be held in constituencies where the chaos that followed the December general election prevented the results from being announced, raising fears that fresh disputes could erupt there this week. Two of the other elections are being held to replace lawmakers who were recently shot dead, and the fifth will replace Kenneth Marende, who relinquished his seat when he was elected parliament speaker.

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