Kenyan poll bore footprints of Cambridge Analytica — Hillary Clinton
What you need to know:
She said the election bore the footprints of Cambridge Analytica, a US-based data company.
- She pointed out that the country’s Supreme Court ruled that there were many irregularities and threw out the results of the election and ordered a repeat election.
Last year’s Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she is open to challenging the results of the 2016 US election.
Speaking during an interview with National Public Radio’s Terry Gross that was released on Monday, Mrs Clinton said she would not rule out questioning the legitimacy of the election outcome should special prosecutor Robert Mueller return a finding that Russia meddled in in a way that directly affected vote counts.
TALL ORDER
She, however, acknowledged the tall order she would be facing as the US Constitution does not allow for a re-vote.
Ms Clinton pointed out that some scholars and academics had argued that one could take place but that she did not feel they had a strong ground.
She then turned to the September 1 ruling by Kenya’s Supreme Court overturning the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta, saying that the election bore the footprints of Cambridge Analytica, a US-based data company.
“You know, the Kenya election was just overturned and really what's interesting about that — and I hope somebody writes about it Terry — the Kenyan election was also a project of Cambridge Analytica, the data company owned by the Mercer family that was instrumental in the Brexit vote,” Ms Clinton said.
ANALYTICA
She added that the firm was instrumental in UK’s Brexit vote where investigations have been launched over the use of data and weaponisation of information in the run-up to the vote.
Ms Clinton said Cambridge Analytica was also involved in the Trump campaign where it promised to help him and in turn, he would pick former campaign chief Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, who is currently Adviser to the President.
Veering back to the Kenyan elections, the former US First Lady pointed out that the country’s Supreme Court ruled that there were many irregularities and threw out the results of the election and ordered a repeat election.
“So what happened in Kenya, which I'm only beginning to delve into, is that the Supreme Court there said there are so many really unanswered and problematic questions, we're going to throw the election out and redo it. We have no such provision in our country. And usually we don't need it,” she noted.
PROOF
When Mr Gross pressed her again on whether she would question the legitimacy of the 2016 election if there was proof of Russian interference, Clinton was categorical.
“No. I would not. I would say…” she started answering Gross.
“You are not going to rule it out?,” Gross interjected.
“No, I would not rule it out," she said.
On September 1, the Kenya's Supreme Court annulled the results of the August 8 presidential election after a legal challenge filed by National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga.
The court ordered fresh elections within 60 days.
RUSSIA
The Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has set the date for a repeat poll on October 17.
Mrs Clinton said the decision had signalled hope for victims of electoral malpractices.
Cambridge Analytica is currently under investigations in the UK over its role in the Brexit vote.
Its accusers say it uses personal data to influence voters.
The democratic nominee, has repeatedly blamed Russia for her loss to Donald Trump last year.
Additional reporting by Silas Apollo.
