Kenyan Opposition Withdraws From Election, Triggering Crisis

Source: Bloomberg

Kenyan opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga withdrew from a rerun of the country’s annulled presidential election, pushing the East African nation toward a constitutional crisis.

Odinga, the leader of the National Super Alliance, said he’s pulling out of the race because the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission refuses to discuss proposed changes to its personnel and procedures to ensure the vote is free and fair. The announcement came as President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee party proposed amendments to the electoral law that would allow the authority to declare a winner if one of the contestants withdraws from the contest.

“We are going to a major political crisis, a major constitutional crisis,” Professor Peter Wanyande, a political scientist at the University of Nairobi, said by phone. “In a democracy, which we are by virtue of our constitution, you cannot hold an election with only one candidate.”

Uncertainty about the rerun has unnerved investors and clouded the outlook for an economy that’s already struggling to expand because of a prolonged drought. Kenya, East Africa’s biggest economy and the world’s largest tea exporter, is a regional hub for companies including Toyota Motor Corp. and General Electric Co. Tullow Oil Plc is among firms that may exploit an estimated 1 billion barrels of crude reserves discovered in the north of the country.

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By Samuel Gebre and Adelaide Changole
October 10, 2017, 9:46 AM EDT October 10, 2017, 10:34 AM EDT


Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-10/kenyan-opposition-candidate-withdraws-from-oct-26-vote-rerun