NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s electoral commission has moved the date for fresh presidential elections to Oct 26, as President Uhuru Kenyatta strongly criticized the court decision to hold new polls.
The electoral commission had earlier set Oct 17 as the date for the fresh poll after the Supreme Court invalidated Kenyatta’s August re-election and ordered a rerun within 60 days.
The electoral commission said in a statement Thursday that it had to change the date because the Supreme Court’s detailed ruling on Wednesday has implications on how the new elections should be conducted, particularly the technology to be used.
The court said the electoral commission failed to properly verify the results. It also said the electoral commission failed to give the court access to its computer servers to disprove the charge by veteran opposition politician Raila Odinga’s that hackers infiltrated the commission’s system and altered the results.
Kenyatta harshly attacked the court’s nullification of his re-election as a blow to the democratic ideals Kenyans fought for, describing it “as a judicial coup.”
Kenyatta spoke to supporters Thursday, a day after the Supreme Court gave its detailed judgment on why it invalidated the August presidential poll. The court said the electoral commission failed to verify the results and give the court access to its computer servers to disprove veteran politician Raila Odinga’s charge that hackers infiltrated the commission’s system and altered the results. The court ordered fresh presidential elections.
