P
ProfRem
Guest
An election board commissioner has resigned and fled the country a week before a re-run of the presidential vote, citing political intimidation and saying the election would be a “mockery” of democracy.
The resignation of Roselyn Akombe, one of seven election board commissioners, is likely to be seized upon by the opposition to bolster its claim that the Oct. 26 poll will not be fair.
The re-run was ordered by the Supreme Court on Sept. 1 after it nullified the August 8 re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta, following a petition by opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Odinga withdrew from the repeat poll last week, saying the election board had not carried out reforms demanded by the opposition.
His move thrust the country, a key Western ally and also the richest economy in the region, deeper into political uncertainty.
The election board has said the poll will go ahead with seven candidates on the ballot, including Odinga.
Akombe, a member of the election board’s top panel, cited severe partisan political divisions among its eight members and the secretariat for her decision to leave.
“The commission has become a party to the current crisis. The commission is under siege,” she said in a statement issued from New York and dated Tuesday.
She told BBC radio she had fled from Kenya to New York after receiving numerous threats but did not identify who was threatening her.
The upcoming election would not be credible, she added.
The resignation of Roselyn Akombe, one of seven election board commissioners, is likely to be seized upon by the opposition to bolster its claim that the Oct. 26 poll will not be fair.
The re-run was ordered by the Supreme Court on Sept. 1 after it nullified the August 8 re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta, following a petition by opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Odinga withdrew from the repeat poll last week, saying the election board had not carried out reforms demanded by the opposition.
His move thrust the country, a key Western ally and also the richest economy in the region, deeper into political uncertainty.
The election board has said the poll will go ahead with seven candidates on the ballot, including Odinga.
Akombe, a member of the election board’s top panel, cited severe partisan political divisions among its eight members and the secretariat for her decision to leave.
“The commission has become a party to the current crisis. The commission is under siege,” she said in a statement issued from New York and dated Tuesday.
She told BBC radio she had fled from Kenya to New York after receiving numerous threats but did not identify who was threatening her.
The upcoming election would not be credible, she added.
