President poll result may be first
Former South Africa judge Johan Kriegler has said he is confident Kenya will hold a proper election next year but warned the country "is headed for serious trouble" if this fails December 6, 2011. FILE
The presidential results could be the first to be announced in the next elections before winners of other seats are known, it emerged on Tuesday.
Independent Electoral Boundary Commission boss Ahmed Isaack Hassan made the revelation as former South African Judge Johann Kriegler warned that it would be more difficult to deal with violence this time round if adequate measures are not taken to ensure peaceful elections.
Mr Kriegler chaired the Independent Review Commission that inquired into the bungled 2007 elections.
Mr Hassan said they unsuccessfully requested the Committee of Experts, who wrote the Constitution, to have elections for various seats held on different dates to give the commission adequate time to make the announcements.
The request, however, was turned down because it could allow politicians to vie for more than one seat and trigger violence.
“We have six results to announce and we have to decide which comes first. We might decide to announce presidential election results first because they are most moving,” he said.
Other seats include Senator, Member of Parliament, Governor, Women’s Representative from each county and Ward Representative.
Mr Hassan, who was speaking during the second day of the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation conference, also disclosed that the defunct experts committee had backed December elections right from the beginning.
“We requested the committee to have the first elections held in December. And they agreed that even though the Constitution fixes the election date in August, the first election be held in December,” he said.
Mr Chaloka Beyani, a former member of the committee, then declared their position on the elections date.
“It was intended that the first election be held in December but we could not come out since the committee had been dissolved,” he said.
Mr Kriegler argued that only a combination of political will, educated voters and a credible electoral commission will spare the country a repeat of bloodshed.
“It will be a make or break elections for Kenya. If everybody does his duties well, the elections will be peaceful but if they fail, Kenya will be headed for serious trouble,” he said.
He reminded Kenyans that post-election violence was an outcome of wrong things that happened over 20 years.
