NAIROBI: Kenya’s opposition coalition refused to take part in the announcement of election results on Friday night, slamming the process as a “charade” and accusing the election commission of ignoring their concerns.

The National Super Alliance (NASA) has alleged massive rigging from shortly after the end of Tuesday’s election, and had earlier asked the election commission (IEBC) to hold off on announcing results until their concerns could be addressed.

However as the IEBC prepared to announce the result, top NASA leader Musalia Mudavadi said: “We are not going to be party to it, out issues have not been addressed.” “We have raised some very serious concerns, they have not responded to them. The chairman told us ... they will respond to us after the event,” said Mudavadi.

Another top NASA official James Orengo denounced the counting process as “an entire charade, this is a disaster.” Orengo also rejected calls from foreign observers to turn to the courts with their grievances.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2017