How is this election any worse than Nigeria's election?

Yet the harshest words the European Union monitor could say of the elections was ""the Electoral commission has not succeeded in establishing the credibility of the tallying process to the satisfaction of all parties and candidates."

DUH, Is that not a more accurate characterization of Nigeria's elections? Did they have to say "The worst election in the world"?

And we had unpatriotic thieves masquerading as "presidential candidates" agreeing with Western assessments attacking Nigeria's image and arousing violence even as we tried to make the first civilian to civilian transition. Here is the news on Kenya's election and tell me how Nigeria is holding Africa back as Europe claimed:

Kenya leader re-elected in disputed vote

NAIROBI, Kenya - President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner Sunday of the closest presidential election in Kenya's history, a contest marked by allegations of rigging and two days of deadly violence.
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Elections chief Samuel Kivuitu read the results on live television after other media were expelled from the main vote headquarters. Kibaki beat Raila Odinga by 231,728 votes.

"This means Honorable Mwai Kibaki is the winner," Kivuitu said.

Black smoke billowed from Nairobi's sprawling Kibera slum, where thousands of people have been on the streets for the past two days shouting "Kibaki must go!" and claiming the vote was rigged. Violence around the country has killed at least 15 people since Saturday, authorities said.

"These are our guns," said 24-year-old Cliff Owino, holding up a handful of rocks in Mathare, a Nairobi slum where young men were setting up roadblocks and building bonfires. "But a voting card is our atomic weapon."

Others were shouting "Kibaki must go!" and waving machetes in the air as buses and shops burned.

Odinga had called on Kibaki to concede and asked for a recount, saying the electoral commission "cannot possibly address the multiple levels of fraud administered by this administration."

But Kibaki's camp urged patience for the official results, and accused Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement of being behind the violence. "ODM is responsible for all the incitement that is taking place right now," said Danson Mungatana, an official with Kibaki's Party of National Unity.

The disputed campaign comes in one of the most developed countries in Africa, with a booming tourism industry and one of the continent's highest growth rates. Many observers saw the campaign as perhaps the greatest test yet of this young, multiparty democracy and raised grave concerns as the process descended into violence.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, chief European Union election monitor, said the Electoral Commission of Kenya "has not succeeded in establishing the credibility of the tallying process to the satisfaction of all parties and candidates."

Kivuitu, the electoral commission chairman, acknowledged problems, including a constituency where voter turnout added up to 115 percent and another where a candidate ran away with ballot papers.

Supporters of 76-year-old Kibaki say he has turned Kenya's moribund economy into an East African powerhouse, with an average growth rate of 5 percent.

He won by a landslide in 2002, ending 24 years in power by the notoriously corrupt Daniel arap Moi, who was constitutionally barred from extending his term.

But Kibaki's anti-graft campaign has largely been seen as a failure, and the country still struggles with tribalism and poverty. After the opposition took most of the parliamentary seats, he may find it difficult to rule even if he wins.

Odinga, a fiery 62-year-old former political prisoner, promised change and help for the poor. His main constituency is Kibera, home to at least 700,000 people who live in extreme poverty and the scene of many of Saturday's riots.

In recent months he has made it a priority to reach out to the country's middle class and businessmen, many of whom belong to Kibaki's tribe, the Kikuyu. Odinga belongs to the Luo tribe.

___

Associated Press writers Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Katharine Houreld, Malkhadir M. Muhumed and Tom Odula contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071230/ap_on_re_af/kenya_elections

You poor deluded fellow. How many cases of widespread electoral irregularities did you hear coming from Kenya? How many are quoted in the article? There's no firm proof of widespread rigging (unlike Nigeria) hence the diplomatic statement by the EU monitor.
I find his statement apt, and if you were smart enough you'd see it completely encompasses all the relevant issues. The tallying process is where the Opposition candidate has the most grouse with, and that's what the monitor remarked on.

What should make ALL nigerians hang their heads with SHAME is the reports emanating from Kenya that there was a record turnout of voters. COmpare this to Nigeria where shameless citizens refused to vote, yet feel they then have a right to complain about the Yar'Adua Government.

texazzpete:

You poor deluded fellow.

Watch it. You better come in here informed or I'll feed you to the vultures

How many cases of widespread electoral irregularities did you hear coming from Kenya? How many are quoted in the article?

Because the widespread rigging have been reported by many concerned voters, based upon which the Kenya's president closed down most live media reporting of the post-elections. You heard that? There was no knowing what went on in the country. This article's subject area was not detail the rigging. Just like many articles on Nigeria's elections touched on the rigging without detailing them. Are you begining to feel stupid now?

There's no firm proof of widespread rigging (unlike Nigeria) hence the diplomatic statement by the EU monitor.

What proof are you looking for if not by what voters claimed they saw? Recall that rigging was taken as a word of mouth from Nigerian opposition candidates.

I find his statement apt, and if you were smart enough you'd see it completely encompasses all the relevant issues. The tallying process is where the Opposition candidate has the most grouse with, and that's what the monitor remarked on.

You have just descended into the realm of the deluded. Does unaccountable tallying not fall in line with the general idea of the harsh words directed at INEC? Recall, idiot, that INEC was DEMANDED to furnish records of fingerprints of Nigerians before the EU could even consider declaring it accountable.

What should make ALL nigerians hang their heads with SHAME is the reports emanating from Kenya that there was a record turnout of voters.

Straw man's argument. You are now bringing up voter turnout as an excuse for Nigerians to feel ashamed. mess YOU and you brood of vipers who are a curse to our National integrity.

COmpare this to Nigeria where shameless citizens refused to vote, yet feel they then have a right to complain about the Yar'Adua Government.

Irrelevant.

Is Obasanjo related to Kibaki in anyway? They sure look alike. And they behave alike especially in election rigging?

Denigrate what? An already denigrated Nigeria?

It's like sinking a sunken ship

kobe:

Denigrate what? An already denigrated Nigeria?

It's like sinking a sunken ship- - -

- - - or planning the assassination of Sanni Abacha in 2008.

@ayanfe
You're a truly amusing fellow. foolish, yes, but amusing nonetheless.

If you'd half a brain, you'd have learnt that most of the voter unrest in kenya had to do with the suspicious delay in releasing the results of the elections. The fact that the parliamentary elections were held simultaneously with the presidential election and that the opposition won far more seats than the ruling party should serve as an indicator that regular electoral irregularities were of a magnitude far lower than that seen in Nigeria.

And yes, bringing up voters' turnout is neccessary, if only to show us that we need to get out to vote when the situation calls for it.

keep up with the insults. it merely amuses me, yet simultaneously shows you up as a slowpoke.

Its quite sad to see the state of Kenya today.It seems to me that Kibaki rigged the election,he was far behind in the vote counts announced by the media until the electoral commission stepped in and events took a more farcical turn.

[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/story/0,,2233855,00.html[/url]

texazzpete:

@ayanfe
You're a truly amusing fellow. foolish, yes, but amusing nonetheless.

If you'd half a brain, you'd have learnt that most of the voter unrest in kenya had to do with the suspicious delay in releasing the results of the elections. The fact that the parliamentary elections were held simultaneously with the presidential election and that the opposition won far more seats than the ruling party should serve as an indicator that regular electoral irregularities were of a magnitude far lower than that seen in Nigeria.

And yes, bringing up voters' turnout is neccessary, if only to show us that we need to get out to vote when the situation calls for it.

keep up with the insults. it merely amuses me, yet simultaneously shows you up as a slowpoke.

Tell me, with the news of rigging from Kenya, so who is the idiot now? You came in here rushing like the idiot you are thinking you found another opportunity to bash Nigeria.

Again, Nigeria was castigated more than any other, yet our elections did not get as violent as the extremely fraudulent, but EU endorsed elections of Kenya.

Kibaki is just another African old desport, from the sit-tight school of Obasanjo klepto and megalomaniacs.
These old spent fuels think their nations cannot do better without them, hence they device all kinds of guises and rigging to stay in office for ever.

It will be a long time before we get another Julius Nyerere or Nelson Mandela in Africa!

@ Poster.
So you would have been happier if International Observers had used the same harsh words used on Nigeria on Kenya. In other words you just dont want Nigeria to occupy that position of Infamy alone abi? The bottom line is Nigeria (Like Kenya) had elections that would make the word 'democracy' sound insulting.
Imagine! we are fighting for other countries to be called 'shit' like we were called.

I-man:

Its quite sad to see the state of Kenya today.It seems to me that Kibaki rigged the election,he was far behind in the vote counts announced by the media until the electoral commission stepped in and events took a more farcical turn.

true. I was also amazed the old man won.


Just reminds me of Bush's first election