President Mwai Kibaki: flaws

On 27 December 2007, Kenya went to the polls. President Mwai Kibaki was seeking re-election but international and local observers say there were serious flaws in an election which saw him returned. Prior to that, Kenya, with a population of 36 million, was seen as one of the few success stories in Africa since its independence in 1963.

Opposition leader and self-proclaimed reformer Raila Odinga declared that the election had been stolen. (The results of an exit poll, eventually published last
July, suggested Odinga had won by a margin of 6%.)

An outbreak of violence followed in which at least 1,000 people were killed and over a quarter of a million displaced from their homes. Outsiders were brought in to negotiate between the two parties, led by former UN general secretary Kofi Annan.

An agreement was signed in February for a power sharing arrangement and an uneasy coalition now exists. A report into the violence, the Waki Report, was published. It has proved to be controversial as it recommends further investigation, something which is being resisted by elements in Kibaki's party in particular.