President Peter Mutharika will stay in power until then.

The Constitutional Court found there had been widespread irregularities in Malawi’s Presidential election last year.

Peter Mutharika won a second term in that poll with a margin of 160 000 votes.

Second placed Lazarus Chakwere maintains he won.

Third placed Saulos Chilima also cried foul.

The annulment is the second in African history.

Kenya’s Supreme Court, citing irregularities,  annulled the August 2017 election won by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

It ordered the appointment of a new electoral commission.

Kenyatta won the re-run in October after his main opponent Raila Odinga withdrew.

The post Malawi’s Presidential election annulled by court finding “widespread irregularities” appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Another 40 were injured, some of them critically.

It is not clear what caused the stampede as pupils left the Kakamega primary school north west of Nairobi yesterday.

Authorities are investigating reports that they jammed into as narrow stairway that collapsed.

Some of the victims fell three stories.

Education Minister George Mogoha confirmed the deaths and vowed the cause would be established.

It has raised concerns about the safety of children in Kenyan schools.

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called for a swift investigation.

The local hospital had to be cordoned off because anxious parents stormed it to get details about their children.

The post At least 14 crushed to death in Kenyan primary school appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Speculation about the whereabouts of Uhuru Kenyatta highlights the divisions in his ruling Jubilee Party as he works on his political heritage in his final term as President.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is determined not to follow predecessors Mwai Kibaki and Daniel Arap Moi in becoming lame duck presidents in their second terms.

He’s working on his four-part programme  of ensuring food security, affordable housing, health care and boosting manufacturing.

But his Jubilee Party remain split after his rapprochement more than a year ago with Opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The party –  Kenya’s electorate generally – are disappointed at his inability to keep his promise to eradicate corruption.

The post Uhuru Kenyatta is not missing in action, Kenya’s presidential spokesperson insists appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The opposition which boycotted the poll maintains the elected government is illegitimate.

The Supreme Court’ stamp of approval on the election re-run  clears the way for 55-year-old Uhuru Kenyatta to be sworn in for a second and final term next week.

After hearing two days of arguments, a six-judge bench said two petitions demanding the cancellation of the polls were without merit.

The ruling is unlikely to end the worst political crisis in a decade in east Africa’s richest and most developed economy, which has seen more than 60 people killed in political violence in three months.

Two people were shot dead on Monday during confrontations between police and opposition supporters.

The post Kenya’s Supreme Court upholds re-run election result appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

This is probably the last chance for legal scrutiny of the vote.

Kenya’s Supreme Court hasn’t  convened since the day before last month’s re-run election.

That hearing, to consider delaying the poll, was canceled because not enough judges showed up to make a quorum.

All six judges on today’s roll  showed up.

President Uhuru Kenyatta won the re-run poll with 98 percent of the vote.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga boycotted it.

The court has until Nov. 20 to rule on the petitions. If the election result is upheld, Kenyatta will be sworn in on Nov. 28.

The post Kenya’s Supreme Court hears petitions against re-run poll result appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The country’s Supreme Court, that anulled the August poll, also won by Kenyatta, has until next Tuesday to rule.

Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu, which is Swahili for My Vote My Voice, is a coalition of rights groups and civil society activists that  filed the petition to challenge the election.

Earlier, former politician politician Harun Mwau also filed a petition.

Kenyatta’s August re-election was nullified by the Supreme Court on September 1 after the main opposition leader Raila Odinga petitioned the court saying the election was fraudulent.

The Court found irregularities committed the electoral commission.

Odinga boycotted the repeat election ordered by the court.

The post Petitions filed against Kenya’s re-run election appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Some say Odinga was misguided to boycott the poll and hand the contest to Kenyatta on a plate.

Others are calling him the father of democracy.

Raila Odinga reacts to the election outcome saying its time to begin the essential task of making elections count and democracy work….

….in all of Africa where he will uproot the evil culture of sham elections and pre-determined outcomes.

He calls for the establishment of a people’s assembly  in Kenya to restore democracy through peaceful demonstrations.

President Uhuru Kenyatta urges Odinga to go to the courts if he’s not happy with the outcome – rather than tell supporters to take  to the streets.

The post Odinga calls for peaceful demonstrations against Kenya’s election result appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

But with a turnout of 34% there is a question mark over the process.

ends intro

Announcing the result, the head of Kenya’s Electoral Commission Wafula Chebukati insists last Thursday’s vote was free and fair.

He says the commission rectified the faults that caused the country’s supreme court to annul the August poll which was also won by Uhuru Kenyatta.

Today’s result comes after the commission indefinitely postponed voting his hard core opposition areas in the West of the country where Raila Odinga’s supporters blocked access to the polling stations and prevented electoral staff from doing their jobs.

Much depends not on whether Odinga will accept the result or go back to the Supreme Court to cry foul.

The post Uhuru Kenyatta declared winner of Kenya’s re-run election appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

At least one person was killed in clashes with police in the opposition strongholds where polls failed to open.

Counting is underway in most of Kenya after yesterday’s re-run election necessitated by the Supreme Court annulling the August poll won by Uhuru Kenyatta.

The turnout in those areas where voting was possible appears to have been much lower than it was wan in August.

Kenyatta urged people to cast their ballots and end the uncertainty of being a country locked in an election campaign.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s supporters took his call for a boycott a step further and prevented access to the polls by voters and the staff  supposed to operate them.

The post Voting delayed until Saturday in four Kenyan counties appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The fatality was in Kisumu, a stronghold of opposition leader Raila Odinga who’s boycotting the poll necessitated by the Supreme Court annulling the August election won by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Amnesty International’s calling on Kenyan police to show restraint in dealing with protestors against today’s re-run election.

The police have been engaged in running battles  with crowds that have blocked access to polling stations and frightened off electoral staff in the western city of Kisumu and the largely informal giant settlement  of Kibera in the capital Nairobi.

In government supporting areas, there has been voting but at a much lower rate than experienced in the August election.

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