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From the count to chaos
Odinga claims vote was rigged
by David Coffey
Article published on the 2008-04-30 Latest update 2008-05-13 14:21 TU
Kenyatta Conference centre
Photo: David Coffey/RFI
Saturday afternoon, 29 December 2007, Raila Odinga and his supporters stormed into the Election Commission of Kenya media centre to announce that the elections had been stolen by the President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU). Within 15 minutes of the ODM delegation leaving the centre, chief electoral commissioner Samuel Kivuitu announced that full election results were imminent.
Wth all the confusion and disarray, security forces told the press to leave the Kenyatta Conference building to allow them to clean up before the final declaration was made.
However, once the international and local media were outside, two companies of the army and General Service Unit blocked the entrance and escorted the press to the gates. It was then, with only the pro-government Kenya Broadcasting Corporation allowed to remain within the building, that it was announced that Kibaki had won the election by over 230,000 votes.Blocked out of the media centre
Three days after Kenyans cast their ballots, the media was still in the dark as to who won the elections. RFI's David Coffey witnessed what happened in the run-up to the election results being announced.
It appeared that a civilian coup d’état had taken place and that a state of emergency was being enforced in all but name.
From the count to chaos
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