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Moi wins disputed Kenyan election

Electoral commission won't overturn ballot

January 3, 1998
Web posted at: 8:58 p.m. EST (0158 GMT)

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Kenya's Electoral Commission is poised to declare President Daniel arap Moi the winner of the East African country's disputed presidential election.

An official declaration of Moi's victory isn't expected until Sunday at the earliest. But Samuel Kivuitu, head of the electoral commission, said Saturday that his interpretation of the results was that Moi had won enough votes to claim the presidency.

Kivuitu also said the commission would not heed calls from opposition candidates to rerun the election because of what they claim were widespread irregularities in the balloting. He said the commission had no power to void the election, although defeated candidates could file suit to overturn the results.

vxtreme Kenya's Moi wins re-election

Under Kenyan law, a victorious presidential candidate must win more votes than any other candidate, win a seat in parliament and win at least 25 percent of the vote in five of Kenya's eight provinces. Kivuitu said he was satisfied that Moi had met all three tests and that none of the other candidates would.

Results released Friday showed that Moi was leading with 39 percent of the vote. His closest challenger, Mwai Kibaki, had 33 percent, and Raila Odinga was third with 11.5 percent. As more results trickled in Saturday, Moi's lead grew to more than 400,000 votes.

Moi's inauguration to be 'done in style'

Moi on the campaign trail
Moi on the campaign trail  

Government officials said they were planning a grand swearing-in ceremony for Moi, who will begin his fifth term. The event could be held as soon as Monday.

"It will be done in style," said one official.

But while Moi was returned to power, a number of members of his cabinet were voted out of parliament. And his party, the Kenya African National Union, will hold the slimmest majority in 35 years.

Moi, who has governed Kenya for nearly two decades, is criticized by his opponents for having an authoritarian ruling style. Together, opposition candidates garnered a million more votes than Moi, but he managed to win because the opposition was badly fractured.

Election observers say vote reflects will of people

Opposition parties have accused the electoral commission of bungling the election. In some areas, the wrong ballots or an insufficient number of ballots were provided to polling stations. There were also allegations of tampering with ballot boxes, and the opposition claimed the ruling party's influence of the state-run media created an uneven playing field.

But a federation of independent Kenyan election observers said Saturday the election process, while "characterized by chaos and inefficiency," produced results that "do, on the whole, reflect the wishes of the Kenyan voters."

A member of the commission, Mutawa Musyimi, secretary general of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, said the elections were substantially better than the last ballot in 1992, which marked the first time in 23 years that opposition parties were allowed to take part. During that campaign, 1,500 people were killed.

Correspondent Catherine Bond and Reuters contributed to this report.

 
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