17 Aug 2022

Kenyan voting exercise has been described as an exemple of amaturing democracy.

In an interview on Tuesday, technical election expect, Mr Leornard Sesa who went to Kenya as an observer under the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, (EISA) praised the electoral body for conducting a smooth voting exercise.

The August 9 elections saw William Ruto winning with 50.49 per cent of the vote, narrowly defeating veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, who was contesting for the fifth time.

“The exercise was viewed as valid,” said Mr Sesa.

Mr Sesa said looking at the history of Kenya, the election was fair, adding that in the past, Kenyans had been voting based on ethnicity and that it was only this year that their voting was based on the manifestos of the contesting political parties.

He said even before the elections, the campaigns finished on time the Sunday before election day as they were expected, saying all complied with the rule.

Mr Sesa, therefore, said EISA observer mission was satisfied with how the poll was conducted.

Besides that, he observed that the turnout was lower than expected.

However, Mr Sesa said the mission observed irregularities and election malpractices, some of which may affect the credibility of the electoral process, adding that the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was not transparent.

Mr Sesa there was lack of transparency in the way the IEBC chairperson conducted the commission’s business.

He said the observer mission members were kept from accessing any significant information about the presidential election results, in particular the tallying of the results, saying for that reasons they were not involve at all in verifying the data that was uploaded into the IEBC system.

Mr Sesa appealed to Kenyans to continue maintaining peace and implored them to embrace peaceful resolution for any disputes that may arise. ends