Kenya’s electoral commission woes threaten the election

East Africa

Published on Wednesday, 19 July 2017 Back to articles

The Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) is once again at the wrong end of a court decision. This time the controversial award of the ballot paper printing contract to the Dubai-based Al-Ghurair Printing and Publishing Ltd was quashed by the High Court in response to a case brought by the opposition National Super Alliance (NASA). The IEBC has appealed and a judgement is expected on 20 July but this is only 19 days before the general election.

IEBC’s case is important because it is not only based on the process that it used to award the tender, but it could lead to the possible cancellation of the presidential election if the tender award is finally quashed. Al-Ghurair is expected to go ahead with the printing of presidential ballot papers on 18 July. The IEBC argues that to issue another tender would delay things by up to 52 days.

One threat to the election is the potential to derail the presidential element of it — other ballot papers have been printed — if the tender has to be put out again. In the more likely event that the election does goes ahead, it will be difficult to defend the legitimacy of a close election that results in a victory for the ruling Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP). The tendering fiasco has seriously dented the IEBC’s credibility and has added to a reputation that goes back to the activities of the Interim Electoral and Boundary Commission predecessor agency in 2009-2010.

The NASA opposition has been gaining in strength in recent weeks and particularly on the issues of food security and corruption. The campaign’s chief economic adviser David Ndii correctly points out that Kenya is the only country in East Africa that has had to ration its staple food, maize flour. NASA supporters now confidently expect victory. This echoes their hopes before the 2007 election, but they were dashed by the results which contributed to the post-election violence that continued into the following year. Kenyan’s memories of that period — as well as the new constitutional dispensation — should make a repeat of that violence less likely in 2017.

This is an article from our fortnightly East Africa Politics & Security publication.

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