ASSESSMENTS

Kenya Inches Toward Violence

Oct 24, 2017 | 21:46 GMT

President Uhuru Kenyatta appears headed for re-election after the main opposition leader pulled out of the race.

Kenyans head to the polls on Oct. 26 for a second time this year after the Supreme Court overturned the August electoral victory of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

(SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • More signs are emerging that Kenya will struggle to ensure a free and fair election on Oct. 26.
  • The perception of a flawed election will ratchet up violence in opposition strongholds in the country's western provinces, the Mathare slum of Nairobi and elsewhere.
  • Long-term instability and ethnic violence in Kenya would be felt across East Africa.

More violence seems to be on the horizon for the East African powerhouse of Kenya. Authorities have called for the arrest of the sister of Raila Odinga, the country's main opposition leader, after some of his supporters reportedly attacked election staff and destroyed polling material in western Kenya. As the presidential election do-over set for Oct. 26 approaches, one election board official has fled to the United States, citing threats on her life, and the chief of the board has gone on leave. Odinga, meanwhile, has called for the "mother of all protests" on the day of the vote. Kenya has been mired in political uncertainty since Sept. 1, when the country's Supreme Court cited voting irregularities and annulled the Aug. 8 elections. The possibility of prolonged rioting in Kenya, which is an economic, political, security and diplomatic hub, threatens the long-term stability of the region. But delaying the election...

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