Kenya Elections: Raila Odinga pulls out of repeat presidential election

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga announced on Tuesday he was withdrawing from a re-run of the presidential election, saying electoral officials had failed to make necessary reforms.

Raila Odinga; flagbearer of the National Super Alliance (NASA) party in Kenya has withdrawn from the country's October 26 repeat presidential election.

Kenya’s Supreme Court last month overturned the August election of President Uhuru Kenyatta citing “irregularities” in the counting of results.

Mr Odinga on Tuesday announced that his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka will also not take part in the repeat election.

“After deliberating on our position in respect of the upcoming election, considering the interests of the people of Kenya, the region and the world at large, we believe that all will be best served by Nasa vacating its presidential candidature in the election scheduled for 26 October 2017," said Mr Odinga.

According to him NASA has been calling for a free and fair election to be held in conformity with the Constitution.

“We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention from IEBC to make sure that the irregularities and illegalities witnessed before do not happen again,” he said.

Mr Odinga has also accused the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of “stonewalling” deliberations to have a credible repeat election.

“We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention on the part of the IEBC to undertake any changes to its operations and personnel to ensure that the “illegalities and irregularities” that led to the invalidation of the 8th August 2008 do not happen again.

"All indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one”, he stated.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga announced on Tuesday he was withdrawing from a re-run of the presidential election, saying electoral officials had failed to make necessary reforms. Read Full Story