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Raila Odinga Says He Won’t Run in Kenya’s New Presidential Election Raila Odinga Says He Won’t Run in Kenya’s New Presidential Election
(35 minutes later)
NAIROBI, Kenya — Raila Odinga, the Kenyan opposition leader, said on Tuesday that he would not run in a new presidential election after the Supreme Court nullified an earlier vote, saying it had been tainted by fraud and irregularities. NAIROBI, Kenya — Raila Odinga, the Kenyan opposition leader, said on Tuesday that he would not run in a new presidential election to be held in two weeks, a move that almost guarantees that President Uhuru Kenyatta will remain in office.
The first election, on Aug. 8, was initially praised as a success. The incumbent, Uhuru Kenyatta was re-elected with 54 percent of the vote, but his main challenger, Mr. Odinga, petitioned the court to cancel the election. The first election, on Aug. 8, was initially praised as a success, but it was nullified three weeks later by the Supreme Court, which ordered a new vote after determining that the first ballot had been tainted by fraud and irregularities.
David Maraga, the Supreme Court’s chief justice, declared on Sept. 1 that the initial result was “invalid, null and void,” in ruling for the opposition, which claimed that the vote had been electronically manipulated to guarantee a victory for Mr. Kenyatta. Mr. Kenyatta was re-elected with 54 percent of the vote, but his main challenger, Mr. Odinga, had petitioned the court to cancel the results, saying that the election had been electronically manipulated to guarantee a victory for the incumbent.
In announcing his decision to pull out of the new election, scheduled for Oct. 26, Mr. Odinga said that the country’s election commission had failed to make the changes necessary to avoid the problems that plagued the vote in August. David Maraga, the Supreme Court’s chief justice, declared on Sept. 1 in ruling in favor of the opposition that the initial result was “invalid, null and void,” although the court did not accept the claim that the election had been rigged.
In announcing his decision to withdraw from the new election, scheduled for Oct. 26, Mr. Odinga said that the election commission had failed to make the changes necessary to avoid the problems that plagued the vote in August.
Mr. Odinga said that the commission had “stonewalled” changes sought by the opposition, The Associated Press reported, and he accused officials of engaging in little more than “public relations exercises” that amounted to “motion without movement.”
The election this year was significant on two fronts: The court’s decision to order a new presidential vote represented a first in Africa, and the initial election passed without the wide-scale violence that marred elections in 2007 and 2013.
In ordering a new election, the Supreme Court said that the first attempt may have been hacked and that the election commission had failed to verify the results.
“Elections are not only about numbers,” Philomena Mwilu, the deputy chief justice, said last month. “Elections should be like a math test where you only get points for the answer if you show your workings.”