International community must not accept fraudulent Kenyan election result
David Steel* - 29 December 2007

Commenting on the Kenyan Presidential election, former English Liberal Party Leader Lord David Steel, who was brought up in Kenya and knows President Kibaki and his opponent Raila Odinga well, said:

"Events today in Kenya are deeply worrying. The extraordinary delay in announcing results from Thursday's election indicates that the figures are being manipulated behind the closed doors of the electoral commission.

"This afternoon with 21 seats still to be declared the Commission was giving the lead to Raila Odinga by 4.3 million to President Kibaki's 4 million. Later these figures changed to 3.8 million each - giving Mr Odinga a lead of under 40,000 votes with no other constituencies announced.

"Mr Odinga has been clearly ahead throughout the two days of counting until now. At the beginning of the year I drew attention to the fact that the members of the Commission were appointed by the President without consulting the opposition parties. "Unfortunately the Commonwealth Secretariat and the EU, both of whom have been observing the election failed to intervene adequately at the time.

"The situation in the country is potentially extremely dangerous because of the tribal rivalries in the election. The international community must make it clear they will not accept a fraudulent result."

* Former English Liberal Party Leader