Raila Odinga: I won August 8 poll but results were doctored
Nasa leader Raila Odinga. He has said no one will stop him from "lifting the Bible". PHOTO | FILE |
What you need to know:
The announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on August 11, he said, were an “injustice”.
According to IEBC, President Kenyatta won the high-stakes poll with 8.2 million votes compared to 6.8 million votes for Mr Odinga.
National Super Alliance (Nasa) leader Raila Odinga maintains that he won the August 8 presidential election that was quashed by the Supreme Court.
In an interview with Al Jazeera English, Mr Odinga claimed the results of the poll were manipulated to give his fierce rival, President Uhuru Kenyatta, a win.
'INJUSTICE'
The outcome announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on August 11, he said, was a great “injustice”.
According to IEBC, President Kenyatta won the high-stakes poll with 8.2 million votes compared to 6.8 million votes for Mr Odinga.
“I know I won the elections, and the results were just manipulated,” Mr Odinga told Al Jazeera’s UpFront programme that aired on Friday night.
“This is what we call an injustice.”
The opposition leader rejected the results even before they were announced, citing manipulation by people he claimed hacked the electoral commission’s ICT systems, an allegation denied by IEBC.
WINNER
President Kenyatta has also maintained that he won the poll fairly and accused the Supreme Court of staging what he termed a "judicial coup".
He has termed the overturning of the poll as "monstrous injustice" and a setback to Kenya's democracy.
But while Mr Odinga and President Kenyatta continue to claim the disputed election, its nullification by the Supreme Court due to "irregularities and illegalities" makes it hard to establish the winner.
Mr Odinga hailed apex court’s decision to overturn the election, saying “it did the right thing,”
During the interview, Mr Odinga also commented on a recent tweet by Deputy President William Ruto, which asked, “For how long will one man, unable to win elections, continue to blackmail 45m Kenyans using threats of violence, chaos, bloodshed and anarchy.”
RUTO TWEET
“Ruto basically suffers from amnesia,” Odinga responded.
“In 2007, he was with me. He was in the frontline fighting against the rigging of the election.”
“Mr Ruto lives in denial. Because he himself has witnessed election rigging first hand,” he added.
The Nasa leader, who is running for State House for the fourth time, also reiterated his claims that international observers let down Kenyans and the international community when they gave the poll a clean bill of health.
“We were very disappointed with the position taken by the international observers, it really brought to question the role of international observation of elections,” he said.
OBSERVERS
He took a swipe at former Ghanaian President John Mahama, who led the Commonwealth Observer Mission.
Mr Mahama had initially stated that the elections were credible.
“President John Mahama did not disclose that he had a conflict of interest. He’s a friend of President Uhuru Kenyatta,” said Odinga.
On concerns that there would be increased violence and protests if he lost the fresh elections, Odinga stated, “If I lose elections fairly, I will accept and tell my supporters we lost fairly.”
“But if there is a rigging of elections, the people are entitled to protest. As you know, our Constitution provides for peaceful demonstrations, picketing, strikes, and so on,” he said.
