Kenyan Senate approves controversial election amendment

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya

Kenyan lawmakers passed a bill late Thursday that the opposition has said will help the ruling party rig August’s presidential election.

The opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) has threatened to call for nationwide protests if President Uhuru Kenyatta signs the “unconstitutional” amendment into law.

The changes allow for voters to be registered and results to be transmitted manually if automated electronic methods do not work. CORD has said this would allow Kenyatta’s ruling Jubilee Party to register the dead or as voters.

The bill was passed by Jubilee senators in a special late sitting. Opposition Senator James Orengo called for the amendment to be rejected. “This is unconstitutional and the government will use this to punish all of us, it will punish you more than me,” he said.

CORD leader Raila Odinga has described the amendment as a government plot to rig the elections by using the manual method of registration and tallying.

When Kenyatta won his first term in 2013, the country had been due to the electronic system but it reportedly malfunctioned days before the vote, forcing election officials to revert to manual counting.

Kenyatta, 55, won the election with 50.07 percent, followed by Odinga on 43.3 percent.

There are fears any demonstrations could lead to violence. Last May, more than 30 people were killed in protests demanding the resignations of electoral commissioners. Disputed elections in December 2007 set off clashes that left at least 1,100 dead.