Kenyan elections

Debate continued over the weekend about Kenya's next election, with community leaders again urging the country's rival coalition partners to announce a date before the end of this year, rather than stick to the High Court's ruling that the government could wait until March 2013.

Voters also say they are unhappy with the coalition between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, which was agreed after 2007 elections sparked deadly unrest.

They want the government to call elections by 14 August - as set down in Kenya's two-year-old constitution.

But Kenya's High Court ruled on Friday that elections could only be held if Kibaki and Odinga dissolve their coalition by written agreement.

Failing that, Judge Isaac Lenaola said the current parliament should be allowed to run its course, with general elections held within 60 days after it expires on 14 January 2013.

Kenya's Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) has warned, however, that it will lead a protest on January 1, 2013 if the two leaders refuse to call elections before then.

Constitutional amendment

The government had proposed delaying the vote from August until December to give it time to solve logistical problems. The move prompted petitions to the High Court, requesting it rule on the date.

Accepting the court's decision, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said the government could still shift the date to December if it pursues a constitutional amendment tabled before the court made its verdict.

But Anglican Bishop Beneah Salala says Kibaki and Odinga should listen to the electorate.

Bishop Salala told Kenya's leading newspaper, Daily Nation, the leaders should "show statesmanship by ensuring Kenyans cast ballots this year, and not 2013, since that is what the electorate wants."

Threat of history repeating

The court ruling could still be challenged, but community leaders indicate there is an increasing dissatisfaction among voters.

"Any deviation from the expectations of the electorate may not be received well," said Bishop Rashid Nanjira.

Kenya has been recovering since the 2007 general elections sparked riots and ethnic killings when Odinga, who was then opposition leader and now prime minister, accused President Kibaki of rigging his re-election.

Deutsche Welle's Kenya correspondent, James Shimanyula, says without a written agreement to dissolve the coalition now, Kibaki and Odinga hold people's fears of fresh violence "in their bare hands."

"There could be bad news again," says Shimanyula.

The ethnic killings at first targeted Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe. It launched reprisal attacks, burning homes and hacking people to death.

More than 1,200 people died in what is considered Kenya's worst violence since independence in 1963.

Author: Zulfikar Abbany (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Daniel Pelz / rm