Doh, what a chaos

Just in from a friend in Nairobi:

"So Kenyans have waited all morning and most of the afternoon to be given
news from the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). This morning, none of
the tv stations had any news whatsoever. Finally at 10 am, they came on
saying that the ECK were to announce the final results at some point.

During the day, everyone has been very nervous waiting for the ECK
announcement. The opposition party made a press briefing saying that
President Kibaki should concede defeat and that there has been a lot of
rigging going on. They gave a few examples. They also said that there has
been inconsistencies in 48 constituencies. They even went as far as stating
their own results claiming they are the winners.

The PNU party (President Kibaki) made a small statement saying that it is
not up to the opposition to make claims and to give results. That is the job
of the ECK and if they have any issues, this should be taken up in court.

We waited and waited all day, glued to the TV... Kenyans very nervous...

Finally after 4 pm, the ECK came to make their announcement. Prior to their
arrival, the security at the ECK HQ was beefed up and the army brought in.

Well, all hell broke loose. Not even 10 minutes had gone and the opposition
opposed one of the results from Molo constituencies. Everyone stood up,
yelling and fighting. Our only woman candidate, Nazlin Omar (very annoying
woman who got like 10 votes in total), started making a ton of noise and
yelling at some body guard and then the police got involved. Everyone
started shoving each other and the army was brought in. It was complete
chaos and horrible to watch. The opposition then moved away and left the
room. The chairman of ECK also left and the crowd dispersed after some of
them being chucked out by the army.

The opposition (Orange Democratic Movement) then gave another press briefing
and brought in some agents who apparently had witnessed the rigging.

That is the very latest.

We still have no results. I just wish that the ODM would allow the chairman
to at least read the results and then yes, take up any issue with the
courts. I mean, who knows, maybe they have won and then we can all move on.
But I think that they know that the ECK will state that President Kibaki has
indeed won again.

Many are quering the fact that how can a gap of 1 million be narrowed down
to 30,000 overnight. But they refuse to see that Kibaki's strong hold areas
had not released their votes yet. Now, why there was a delay in releasing
the votes... Well, there are many explanations for that which are floating
all around the place.

Who knows what will happen. I just wish these results can be read, and
peace be restored.

Much of yesterdays violence in the major towns was reduced and there was
calm in most places. However, with further delays, who know what will
happen."

Kibaki has been declared winner. I hope the protests against this very dubious result will be peaceful, but it doesn’t look like they are.

Original von Nyamera
Kibaki has been declared winner. I hope the protests against this very dubious result will be peaceful, but it doesn’t look like they are.

the news tonight just showed one person with gunshot wounds in the street of nairobi. policemen with sticks beating protesters.........
the EU-observer mr. graf lambsdorff stated that he was not allowed in to voting cabinets and that the result is very "dubious".
yesterday kibaka was 200.000 votes behind his challenger and today he suddenly was 230.000 ahead...

if kenya was on the route to democracy today it has shown it has left the road towards democracy and kenyan people have been betrayed!
it's an absolute shame! one more african nation leaves a bitter pill for its people to swallow.....

What a disaster; I am very sad to hear what is going - I hope all will get sorted out soon; hard to celebrate NY when my friends and family are living hard situations in Kenya.