Kenya opposition claims 'authentic' results show Odinga won
Kenya's opposition released what it called "authentic" election results showing its leader Raila Odinga won the August vote, but it refused to say Friday how it obtained the information from the electoral commission's servers.
Kenya's electoral commission quickly called those results "fake" as the opposition prepares to hold a so-called "inauguration" of Odinga next week in protest of President Uhuru Kenyatta's new term. The U.S. has advised against the event, and Kenya's attorney general has called it treasonous, while East Africa's economic hub tries to move beyond months of deadly election turmoil.
The August election in which Kenyatta was declared the victor was nullified by the Supreme Court after Odinga filed a petition claiming that hackers infiltrated the electoral commission's system and changed results in favor of Kenyatta.
In the ruling, the first time a court had overturned a presidential election in Africa, the court cited irregularities and illegalities. It noted that the commission declined to open its servers for court scrutiny. The court ordered a fresh vote in October that Kenyatta won. Odinga boycotted while claiming a lack of electoral reforms.
Odinga's lawyer, James Orengo, said Friday that the opposition could not reveal how it obtained the "authentic" election information from the electoral commission's servers.
"The only way you can rebut it is by opening the server," Orengo said.
According to those results, which could not be independently verified, Odinga received 50.24 percent of the vote in August while Kenyatta received 48.92 percent.
In a statement, the electoral commission's acting Chairwoman Connie Maina said the announcement by the National Super Alliance opposition coalition "totally misleads the public on the results pathway, the servers, information on the public portal and the forms used to declare results."
Orengo told The Associated Press the opposition will write to countries where companies that supplied equipment to the electoral commission are based, asking them to pressure the companies to give true accounts of the election.
The government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has said at least 92 people were killed during Kenya's election unrest and dozens of others were sexually assaulted. Most were opposition supporters.
- Star
Add Interests Customize your news feed by choosing the topics that interest you.
To save your interests across all devices Log In or Sign Up »Source – abcnews.go.com
