Kenya president approves voting law despite fears of election rigging News
Kenya president approves voting law despite fears of election rigging

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a controversial law [document, PDF] Monday that may impact the August elections. The law enables a paper recount of votes in the event that the electronic systems fail. Though a victory for the majority Jubilee party, who claim it will add stability to the voting process, members of the opposition Cord party have expressed concern [Star report] that the law will enable election rigging during recounting. The failure of electronic voting systems would not be new to Kenya—Raila Odinga, who leads the opposition party, lost the 2013 presidential election [JURIST report] to Kenyatta after the electronic voting systems malfunctioned on a wide scale.

in October Kenyatta made headlines [JURIST report] for commuting all death sentences in Kenya. However, he remains a controversial figure internationally. Kenyatta was investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] for inciting post-election violence in 2007 and 2008, but the charges were ultimately withdrawn [JURIST report] for lack of evidence.