NAIROBI: Kenya’s defeated presidential contender Raila Odinga filed a legal challenge to his election loss yesterday in a major test of the country’s democracy five years after a disputed vote triggered deadly tribal violence.
Shortly before, police outside the Supreme Court used teargas to break up a rally of around 100 Odinga supporters, who were urged by the outgoing prime minister to stay calm and trust in the law to resolve his complaint.
Odinga’s petition threatens to extend the period of uncertainty shadowing east Africa’s largest economy.
The outgoing prime minister refuses to accept the slim first-round election win by Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court over the 2007 bloodletting in which more than 1,200 people were killed.
The March 4 vote was largely peaceful by contrast, and Kenyatta declared it “free and fair” in his acceptance speech last Saturday, though he added that the electoral process could be made more refined and efficient in the future.
Kenya’s electoral commission (IEBC) had promised a smooth election but the collapse of an expensive new electronic voting system led to a five-day wait for the winner to be announced.
Odinga’s petition alleges widespread rigging and accuses the IEBC of inflating voter registration numbers and going ahead with the election aware that its systems were going to fail.
“These failures dwarf anything Kenyans have ever witnessed in any previous election,” Odinga told reporters on the doorstep of his office in the center of the capital Nairobi.
“Every mechanism and every instrument the IEBC deployed failed miserably. Its failure and collapse, on a catastrophic scale on the polling day, so fundamentally changed the system of polling and the number of votes cast.
” Kenyatta comfortably beat Odinga in terms of votes won, 50.07 percent versus 43.28 percent, but only narrowly avoided a run-off after winning just 8,100 votes more than the 50 percent needed to be declared the winner outright.
The tight nature of Kenyatta’s win has given Odinga allies confidence that they can force a run-off through the courts, though the petition calls for the whole process to be declared null and void.
By the time the petition was filed in the early afternoon, hundreds of Odinga supporters gathered outside the court, many wearing T-shirts with slogans such as “democracy on trial.”
“I am not happy with the election results, since my rights have been stolen. President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta is not my choice,” Florence Bolo, an Odinga supporter, said outside the Supreme Court. Others shouted: “Uhuru must go!” “We Kenyans want justice and I am crying for the Supreme Court to look at this case as critical and come out with a fair judgment,” said Hamsa Omondi, a 21-year-old street vendor.
Traffic was moving freely through Nairobi and there were no signs of further unrest in the capital.
Many had feared a repeat of the 2007 violence after this month’s vote, and were relieved when that did not transpire.
But analysts say a swift, transparent resolution of the dispute will be critical to restoring Kenya’s reputation as a stable democracy. Big Western donors worry about a nation seen as a vital ally in the regional fight against militant Islam.
Kenya’s stock market, which surged 7 percent in the two days after the peaceful conclusion of the March 4 vote, then suffered three consecutive days of falls. Traders said the Supreme Court petition had unnerved foreign investors.
The IEBC has consistently described the vote as credible despite a series of technological glitches on voting day and during the tallying of ballots. The IEBC spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.
International monitors, commenting shortly after counting began, said the election was broadly credible up to that point. But the count went for five days, and monitors did not follow the entire count process, diplomats say.
Odinga’s petition names four respondents — the IEBC, its chairman Issack Hassan, Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto, who is also under ICC indictment for crimes against humanity over the 2007 bloodshed. Both deny the charges.
Odinga’s attempts to nullify Kenyatta’s victory will be the first significant test for Kenya’s new Supreme Court, established under a constitution adopted in a 2010 referendum.
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, appointed in 2011 to reform a legal system accused of serving the interests of the elite, will be under pressure to deliver a transparent verdict in a country where political tensions are more tribal than ideological.
Mutunga received death threats in the run-up to the vote but promised the judiciary would act without “favor, prejudice or bias” when handling election complaints. He invited the media to cover the proceedings live from the court.
Odinga’s decision to contest the election outcome in the courts was a major departure from his response to the 2007 election outcome, which he also described as rigged.
Odinga at the time summoned supporters out into the streets for peaceful protests, as he did not trust the judiciary to be fair. But violence quickly erupted between tribes backing competing leadership candidates and spread across Kenya.
Kenya’s Odinga challenges election defeat in top court
Kenya’s Odinga challenges election defeat in top court
Tighter asylum deportation rules take effect in Japan
- World’s fourth largest economy has long been criticized for the low number of asylum applications it accepts
- Revised law ‘meant to swiftly deport those without permission to stay, and help reduce long-term detentions’
The world’s fourth largest economy has long been criticized for the low number of asylum applications it accepts. Last year refugee status was granted to a record 303 people, mostly from Afghanistan.
Now the government can deport asylum seekers rejected three times, under immigration law changes enacted last year.
Previously, those seeking refugee status had been able to stay in the country while they appealed decisions, regardless of the number of attempts made.
The revised law is “meant to swiftly deport those without permission to stay, and help reduce long-term detentions,” justice minister Ryuji Koizumi said in May.
“Those who need protection will be protected, while those who violate the rules will be dealt with sternly,” he added.
Critics have raised concerns over the transparency of Japan’s screening process, warning that the new rules could heighten the risk of applicants facing persecution after repatriation.
“We’re strongly concerned that the enforcement of this law will allow refugees who have fled to Japan to be deported, and endanger their lives and safety,” the Japan Association for Refugees said on social media platform X.
The group called for a “fair” system to be established instead that “protects asylum seekers in Japan according to the international standards.”
As of May, more than 2,000 Ukrainians were living in Japan under a special framework that recognizes them as “evacuees.”
Australia PM condemns graffiti attack on US consulate in Sydney
- Building attacked and sprayed with paint by a person carrying a small sledgehammer at around 3 a.m. local time on Monday
- The same building was sprayed with graffiti in April, while the US consulate in Melbourne was graffitied by pro-Palestine activists in May
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese on Monday condemned vandalism of the US consulate in Sydney after the building was defaced in what local media said appeared to be a pro-Palestinian protest.
The building in the northern suburbs of Australia’s largest city was attacked and sprayed with paint by a person carrying a small sledgehammer at around 3 a.m. local time on Monday.
“I would just say that people should have respectful political debate and discourse,” Albanese said in a televised media conference from Canberra when asked about the incident.
“Measures such as painting the US Consulate do nothing to advance the cause of those who have committed what is of course a crime to damage property,” he added.
Nine windows of the consulate were damaged and the building’s door was graffitied, police said.
“CCTV has been sourced that shows a person wearing a dark colored hoodie with their face obscured carrying what appears to be a small sledgehammer,” a police spokesperson told Reuters by phone.
A spokesperson for the US consulate confirmed the building had been damaged but said staff and operations were unaffected.
“Australian Federal Police and New South Wales Police are investigating the incident,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Photos of the consulate on the website of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper showed inverted red triangles sprayed on the building’s front. The symbol is used by some pro-Palestinian activists, it reported.
The same building was sprayed with graffiti in April, while the US consulate in Melbourne was graffitied by pro-Palestine activists in May, according to the newspaper.
Long a stalwart ally of Israel, Australia has become increasingly critical of its conduct in Gaza, where an Australian aid worker was killed in an Israeli attack earlier this year.
Last month, camps sprang up at universities in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and other Australian cities protesting Israel’s war in Gaza and claiming the Australian government has not done enough to push for peace.
New Zealand PM says China Premier Li Qiang to visit this week
- Visit would be a valuable opportunity for exchanges on areas of cooperation between the two countries
WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Monday that China’s Premier Li Qiang would visit the country later this week, in the first trip to the nation in seven years by a Chinese premier.
Luxon said in a statement he looked forward to warmly welcoming Premier Li in New Zealand and that the visit would be a valuable opportunity for exchanges on areas of cooperation between the two countries.
“The challenging global outlook makes it vital that we are sharing perspectives and engaging China on key issues that matter to New Zealand,” Luxon said.
Italy’s Premier Meloni gets domestic, European boost from EU election win
- Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party confirmed its status as the country’s most popular party
- The party is projected to get at least 23 seats in the European Parliament, up from six after the 2019 elections
ROME: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party won European elections in Italy with a strong 28 percent of the votes, boosting her leadership at home and consolidating her kingmaker role in Europe.
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party confirmed its status as the country’s most popular party, even improving its performance from the 26 percent it won in the 2022 general elections, according to projections by state broadcaster RAI based on almost 70 percent of votes counted.
The victory in Italy’s voting for European Parliament representatives provides a boost for Meloni, after almost two years in power, mainly at the expense of her governing partners in Rome.
In particular, Matteo Salvini’s hard-right League emerged as one of the biggest losers in the EU vote. After finishing first in the 2019 EU election, with more than 34 percent of the vote, the League got just 8.5 percent this time, behind its once junior ally, Forza Italia, which was over 9 percent.
For the opposition, the main center-left Democratic Party got 24.5 percent, followed by the populist Five Star Movement, which received only 10.5 percent, a seven-point decrease from the 2019 election.
Meloni, who personalized her electoral campaign betting on her personal “brand,” has now positioned herself as one of the most powerful figures in the EU, where far-right parties made major gains, dealing stunning defeats to two of the bloc’s most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“I’m proud that we are heading to the G7 and to Europe with the strongest government of all,” Meloni said, commenting on the electoral results at her party’s headquarters early Monday.
She called the outcome “extraordinary” and pledged to use it as “fuel” for the future.
Despite its solid popular support, Meloni’s conservative government needs a strong mandate to deal with the challenges ahead, especially given the fragile state of Italy’s public finances and the prospect of a difficult budget for 2025.
“I think that Meloni gets out of these elections stronger, first of all because this is a government that has not lost consensus, which is quite unique in Europe,” said Giovanni Orsina, director of the school of government at LUISS university in Rome.
“Secondly, with the growth of far-right parties, Meloni is in a pivotal position between the far right and the European People’s Party,” he added.
Based on the latest projections, Meloni’s party will get from 23 to 25 seats in the European Parliament, up from six after the 2019 elections, when it was only a minor opposition party.
Orban’s party takes most votes in Hungary’s EU election, but new challenger scores big win
- While Orban's Fidesz party has dominated Hungarian politics since 2010, many are deeply dissatisfied with how it has governed the country
- Emerging as Hungary's strongest opposition group is Péter Magyar's Respect and Freedom (TISZA) party, which took 31 percent of the vote
BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist party appeared set to take the most votes in Sunday’s European Parliament elections, a race that pitted the long-serving leader against a new challenger that has upended Orban’s grip on Hungarian politics in recent months.
With 55 percent of votes counted, Orban’s Fidesz party had 43 percent of the vote, enough to send 11 delegates of Hungary’s 21 total seats in the European Union’s legislature.
While Fidesz took a plurality of votes, it was down sharply from 52 percent support in 2019 EU elections and looked set to lose two seats in what was widely seen as a referendum on Orban’s popularity.
Preliminary results showed that more than 56 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, setting a record for participation in an EU election in Hungary.
While Fidesz has dominated Hungarian politics since 2010, many are deeply dissatisfied with how it has governed the country. A deep economic crisis and a recent series of scandals involving Fidesz politicians have rocked the party which prides itself on upholding family values and Christian conservatism.
Those factors led to the emergence of one of the most formidable challengers Orban has ever faced, Peter Magyar, who broke ranks with Orban’s party in February and in a matter of months built up Hungary’s strongest opposition party.
That party, Respect and Freedom (TISZA), stood at 31 percent of the vote Sunday, amounting to seven delegates to the European Parliament.
Magyar gathered a crowd of supporters next to the Danube River in Budapest on Sunday evening to await results. As strong storms approached the city, he addressed the crowd and encouraged them to take cover until the storm passed.
But he struck an optimistic tone concerning the election results, casting the day as a turning point in Hungarian politics, which have centered around Orban for more than 14 years.
“Althought we don’t know the results yet,” he said, “today is a milestone. I would like to ask everyone to remember this day well. On June 9, 2024, an era has come to an end.”
Magyar has planned to use the elections to propel himself and his movement to challenge and defeat Orban in the next national ballot scheduled for 2026. The 43-year-old lawyer’s accusations of widespread corruption in Orban’s government, and claims that Fidesz has used a “propaganda machine” to sow deep social divisions, have resonated with many Hungarians who desire change.
On the eve of the election, he mobilized tens of thousands of demonstrators in Budapest in a final appeal for support for his new party.
While the favorable result for TISZA portended a shift in Hungary’s domestic politics, right-wing populists like Orban made significant gains across Europe in the election, stirring fears that the world’s biggest trading bloc’s ability to make decisions could be undermined as war rages in Ukraine and anti-migrant sentiment mounts.
Hungary’s far-right Our Homeland party gained 6 percent of the vote Sunday, sending a delegate to Brussels for the first time.
Orban, the Kremlin’s closest EU ally, had expressed hopes that parties across Europe that oppose providing military support to Ukraine would gain a majority in the EU legislature.
Hungary is set to take over the EU’s rotating six-month presidency in July.
The five-time prime minister cast the elections as a contest that would decide whether Russia’s war in Ukraine would engulf Europe. He campaigned heavily on fears that the war could escalate to involve Hungary directly if his political opponents were successful.
He has blamed “pro-war” politicians in Washington and Brussels for increasing tensions with Russia and portrayed his refusal to supply Kyiv with military aid and other support as a “pro-peace” position unique in Europe.
After casting his vote earlier in the day, Antal Zámbó, a 75-year-old retiree in Budapest, said he supported Orban and Fidesz as he believed they would deliver “a more peaceful life.”
“Everyone benefits if there is peace in their surroundings as well as on the global stage,” he said.
A TISZA supporter, Gyula Nemet, 71, said governance by Orban’s party since 2010 has “not only proved that they are incompetent, but they totally divided this country.”
“Hungary has been pushed to the sidelines in Europe. We became totally segregated,” he said. “This cannot go on. We definitely need a positive change, integration with Europe and among the Hungarian people.”
