The Kenya 2017 election re-run is underway, and those looking for live results will be able to follow along with up-to-date tallies from the controversial election.
Voters will head to the polls on October 26 for a re-run of August’s election, the results of which were thrown out due to irregularities. Thursday’s vote is a controversial one and polling stations in opposition strongholds were already shuttered, Reuters reported, with supporters of oppositional leader Raila Odinga protesting the election.
Odinga said he will not take part in the re-run election and has called on his supporters to boycott, which is expected to hand a victory to President Uhuru Kenyatta. But there is still keen interest in results of the Kenya 2017 election, which is expected to lead to further legal challenges in the coming weeks and months.
Many polling stations were barricaded and others not open at all, Reuters noted, which will likely become an argument for Odinga to have the results of the re-run thrown out.
There is fear that Kenya could see a repeat of the violence that followed the 2007 election, when more than 1,200 people were killed following a disputed election. With that in mind, Odinga called on his supporters to stay away from police.
“We advise Kenyans who value democracy and justice to hold vigils and prayers away from polling stations, or just stay at home,” Odinga said.
Meanwhile, Uhuru Kenyatta was urging his supporters to show up and vote on Thursday, the Standard reported. He also warned against actions that would prevent people from exercising their right to vote and said the country needed to get out of the election mood that had slowed growth and threatened the economy.
What next for Kenya? https://t.co/QLyzAt02Rf pic.twitter.com/jjwXLidDOY
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) October 25, 2017
There have already been 49 people killed in violence since the August poll, Al Jazeera noted, and a trio of human rights activists tried to have Thursday’s vote canceled over fears that it will not be a credible or safe election. The Kenyan Supreme Court was unable to raise a quorum of judges to make a decision on the case, the report noted.
Those who want to find live results of the Kenya 2017 election re-run can find up-to-date voting totals from the Daily Nation . Actually finding the final voting totals from the Kenya election could take a while, Reuters noted. After the irregularities of the first vote, Kenya changed to a system that will transmit scanned images of vote tallies, meaning it could take up to a week to finalize the results.
[Featured Image by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images]
