NAIROBI — Kenya’s president, Uhura Kenyatta took what appears to be an unassailable lead in elections, according to preliminary results from Kenya’s election commission, but his opponent on Wednesday called the results fraudulent, raising fears of political violence.
Kenyatta is ahead of opposition leader Raila Odinga by a margin of 54-percent to 45-percent, with 93 percent of votes counted, according to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
But the morning after Tuesday’s elections, Odinga called the outcome “a complete fraud,” outlining an elaborate hacking scheme that he said dramatically manipulated the results. According to Odinga, a hacker used the login information of a top election official, Chris Msando, who was mysteriously murdered last month, to enter the country’s electoral database.
He told his supporters not to accept the outcome.
The hacker, Odinga claimed, “took control of the entire network” and dramatically altered the results.
[Who are the men competing in Kenya’s presidential election?]
Odinga, a former prime minister, has run unsuccessfully for president four times. In both 2007 and 2013, he alleged that the results were rigged. In 2007, the country was engulfed by post-election ethnic violence that left about 1,400 people dead.
Kenya has become one of Africa’s strongest economies and is considered by many as a pillar of stability in a fragile region. But its politics are still dominated by tribal loyalty, and elections bring with them the fear of violence.
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, businesses were shuttered and many people left the capital Nairobi for less volatile parts of the countryside. Msando’s death last month, and signs that he had been tortured, sent a shock wave through the country before the election.
The vote itself was peaceful and seemingly smooth, with millions of people lining up across the country and few major problems at polling stations, according to international election monitors.
At a press conference, Odinga urged his supporters to remain calm, even as he told them “not to accept these results.”
His running-mate, Kalonzo Musyoka, added obliquely, “There may come a time when we need to call you into action.”
At a separate press conference, officials from Kenyatta’s party urged Odinga to accept the results.
“Only one campaign could emerge victorious. We appeal to NASA (Odinga’s party) to stop calling results fraudulent,” said Raphael Tuju, the secretary general of the Jubilee party, adding that the results were not yet official.
When asked at a press conference how he knew about the hacking of the election database, Odinga said he couldn’t reveal his source.
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