ama kweli
Happy new year 2008 from J.J
Kenya: Highlights of EU observers report
Wednesday, 2nd January, 2008
•“The 2007 general elections have fallen short of key international and regional standards for democratic elections. Most significantly, they were marred by a lack of transparency in the processing and tallying of presidential results, which raises concerns about the accuracy of the final result of this election.”
•“At the Electoral Commission headquarters, the EU electoral expert was forbidden entry into the tallying room on various occasions, despite clear and public instructions from the chairman that he be granted access.”
•“During the campaign period, freedom of speech was generally respected. However, on the announcement of the final results for the presidential election at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, journalists were ejected from the building.”
•“Immediately following the announcement, a directive from the Internal Security minister ordered broadcasters to suspend all live broadcast, seriously infringing the right of the media to report without undue state interference.”
•“In a large number, almost a third, of polling stations visited, party agents were not given a copy of the result sheets… Furthermore, in more than a third of polling stations visited, the results were not posted at the polling station level, fundamentally undermining transparency measures in the process.”
•“In Central Province, the majority of EU observer teams experienced difficulties in obtaining the results for each polling station from returning officers during the tally process.” •“In several constituencies, including Mathioya, Koleleni, Mvita, Kisauni, Changamwe, Likoni and Central/North Imenti, the returning officers refused to provide constituency results to the EU observers before these results were confirmed in Nairobi. The constituency results form in Kangema showed to EU observers was only signed by a party agent of PNU.”
•“Serious inconsistencies and anomalies were identified in the results announced by the Kenyan Electoral Commission. For example, in Molo and Kieni, there were significant differences between presidential election results reported by EU observers at the constituency level and results announced by the Electoral Commission at national level.”
•“Additionally, at the Electoral Commission headquarters, the EU Chief Observer was shown forms on which the lection results for constituencies 205 (Lari) and 96 (Kandara) had been changed. Furthermore, for Kerugoya, EU observers reported a discrepancy of more than 10,000 votes in the official turnout given for presidential and legislative elections.” •“Whilst the result of the elections were announced, the official figures for all the constituencies are still not available and adequate measures have not been taken at all levels to ensure the results can be correlated in the public domain.”
•“To enable doubts over the accuracy of the presidential results to be clarified, it is vital that an independent investigation is swiftly conducted and the Electoral Commission demonstrates maximum transparency in this period,” his statement read. •“As an essential step, the results of all polling stations must be swiftly published in newspapers and on the Internet to enable an independent audit to be undertaken.”
Wednesday, 2nd January, 2008
•“The 2007 general elections have fallen short of key international and regional standards for democratic elections. Most significantly, they were marred by a lack of transparency in the processing and tallying of presidential results, which raises concerns about the accuracy of the final result of this election.”
•“At the Electoral Commission headquarters, the EU electoral expert was forbidden entry into the tallying room on various occasions, despite clear and public instructions from the chairman that he be granted access.”
•“During the campaign period, freedom of speech was generally respected. However, on the announcement of the final results for the presidential election at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, journalists were ejected from the building.”
•“Immediately following the announcement, a directive from the Internal Security minister ordered broadcasters to suspend all live broadcast, seriously infringing the right of the media to report without undue state interference.”
•“In a large number, almost a third, of polling stations visited, party agents were not given a copy of the result sheets… Furthermore, in more than a third of polling stations visited, the results were not posted at the polling station level, fundamentally undermining transparency measures in the process.”
•“In Central Province, the majority of EU observer teams experienced difficulties in obtaining the results for each polling station from returning officers during the tally process.” •“In several constituencies, including Mathioya, Koleleni, Mvita, Kisauni, Changamwe, Likoni and Central/North Imenti, the returning officers refused to provide constituency results to the EU observers before these results were confirmed in Nairobi. The constituency results form in Kangema showed to EU observers was only signed by a party agent of PNU.”
•“Serious inconsistencies and anomalies were identified in the results announced by the Kenyan Electoral Commission. For example, in Molo and Kieni, there were significant differences between presidential election results reported by EU observers at the constituency level and results announced by the Electoral Commission at national level.”
•“Additionally, at the Electoral Commission headquarters, the EU Chief Observer was shown forms on which the lection results for constituencies 205 (Lari) and 96 (Kandara) had been changed. Furthermore, for Kerugoya, EU observers reported a discrepancy of more than 10,000 votes in the official turnout given for presidential and legislative elections.” •“Whilst the result of the elections were announced, the official figures for all the constituencies are still not available and adequate measures have not been taken at all levels to ensure the results can be correlated in the public domain.”
•“To enable doubts over the accuracy of the presidential results to be clarified, it is vital that an independent investigation is swiftly conducted and the Electoral Commission demonstrates maximum transparency in this period,” his statement read. •“As an essential step, the results of all polling stations must be swiftly published in newspapers and on the Internet to enable an independent audit to be undertaken.”
