African press review 11 August 2017

International observers praise organization of Kenya's Presidential Elections and call for restraint as they await the results. This, after opposition candidate Raila Odinga's party asks the elections body to declare him the winner.

DR

Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was set to announce the complete results of the Presidential elections at midday Friday.

Daily Nation reports that the opposition National Super Alliance has rejected provisional results and asked the elections commission to declare its candidate Raila Odinga the winner of the poll.

The publication also reports that the US has added its voice to calls for patience as the electoral commission tallies the results and welcomed the IEBC’s commitment to fully investigate any allegations of fraud, with the engagement of all election stakeholders.”

Meanwhile, Standard Digital presents the assessment of the electoral process by International observers starting with former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki, leader of the African Union Observer group, who stated that he saw no sign of manipulation despite Raila Odinga's hacking claim.

According to the newspaper, Mbeki said in the view of the observer group, the opposition should follow due process, adding that the election was in accordance with laws governing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

Mbeki reportedly spoke during a press briefing claiming that the opposition team had met the observers and presented their grievances.

According to the Standard, an issue which will remain in the spotlight during upcoming days will be concerns expressed at the high number of spoiled votes by the African Union and Commonwealth observation missions.

The publication says that Thabo Mbeki and the former Ghanaian president John Mahama blamed the problem on what they described as a lack of civic and voter education.

The Kenyan Star puts the number of votes rejected at more than 388,000, citing IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati as the source of the information. The paper says IEBC clerks were often not available to offer any assistance to first-time voters who dropped the papers into ballot boxes after marking them wrongly.

Meanwhile Nigeria's Sun highlights statement from the European Union’s election observer mission asserting that they saw no signs of “centralised or localised manipulation” of the voting process. Marietje Schaake who headed the team, said the EU would provide an analysis of the tallying process in a later report.

In South Africa, Mail and Guardian notes that the nervous wait for the final results had heightened tensions in the country where post-poll bloodshed left 1,100 people dead a decade ago.

It claims that once again Kenya is at a crossroads, with the country “sitting precariously on the precipice”.

To read RFI's reports of Kenya's 2017 election click here