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Kenyan election results are in: Uhuru Kenyatta is president. Now to see how Europe and the United States will react to a Kenyan president indicted by The Hague for crimes against humanity.
Kenya's Deputy Prime Minister and The National Alliance (TNA) presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta waves to supporters before speaking at a rally on March 2, 2013, in Nairobi on the last day of campaigning, 48 hours ahead of presidential, gubernatorial, and senatorial elections.(Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images)
Uhuru Kenyatta, indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, is Kenya’s new president. He needed 50 percent of the votes to become president—he got 50.07 percent.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who came in second with 43.28 percent, has indicated he will challenge the results through official channels.
Odinga challenged the 2007 election results in which he was bested by incumbent President Mwai Kibaki. The resulting conflict resulted in more than 1,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced Kenyans. Odinga’s camp has committed to sticking to the official channels of complaint to avoid violence this time, according to the Global Post.
Kenyatta was indicted for crimes against humanity related to his involvement in the post-election violence in 2007. He is the son of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta. Odinga’s father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, was Kenyatta’s vice president, but the two had a falling out.
The feud aggravated tribal rivalries between the Kikuyu, Kenyatta’s tribe, and the Luo, Odinga’s tribe, which has carried on to today.
‘Consequences’ of Electing an ICC Indictee
In a Feb. 7 press briefing, Johnnie Carson, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, answered questions about how the United States would view a Kenyan president indicted by the ICC if Kenyatta won.
“President Obama clearly stated that the choice of who will lead Kenya is up to the Kenyan people, but it is also important to note that choices have consequences,” Carson said.
When asked to clarify what “consequences” meant, he replied: “We live in an interconnected world and people should be thoughtful about the impact that their choices have on their nation, on their region, on the economy, on the society, and the world in which they live. Choices have consequences.”
European governments have threatened sanctions if Kenyatta were to become president, according to public policy organization the Brookings Institute.
Had Kenyatta not won the approximately 4,000 votes that pushed him past the 50 percent mark to 50.3 percent, a runoff election would have had Kenyatta and Odinga face off again.
A preliminary assessment by the European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) in Kenya issued on Wednesday generally praised the 2013 electoral process in Kenya, while noting some shortcomings.
As to the vote counting, which Odinga is likely to contest, the EUEOM reported: “Observers considered that in all the polling stations attended, the overall conduct of operations was good and that the recorded results reflected the will of voters.
“Party agents were able to attend counting and observe procedures unhindered but in nearly half of polling stations observed, not all party agents received a copy of the results forms. Electronic transmission of provisional results was only successfully carried out in a small number of the polling stations attended by EU EOM observers, with failures occurring most often because the network was congested. The EU EOM is observing tallying of official results at constituency, county, and national tally centers.”
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