Thirdway Alliance leader Ekuru Aukot allowed to participate in repeat poll

Thirdway Alliance leader Ekuru Aukot

The High Court has ordered Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to include Thirdway Alliance Party leader Ekuru Aukot in the ballot for the October 26 repeat presidential election.

Aukot didn’t make it clear whether he will participate in the rerun

Dr Aukot had filed the case seeking to be included in the repeat presidential race after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ruled that the repeat poll,  scheduled for October 26, would only be a contest between President Uhuru Kenyatta and National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga.

On Tuesday October 10 National Super Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga withdrew from the repeat presidential election saying it is only through his withdrawal from the showdown that the country will have a credible, free and fair election as per the law.

NASA also announced that it will hold nationwide demonstrations starting Wednesay October 11 in Nairobi, the clarion call being ‘No Reforms, No Election.’

In a press conference in Nairobi, Raila Odinga said they had withdrawn from the race because:

• The Independent Electoral and Boundaries had stonewalled all meaningful deliberations aimed at realising the conditions for fair and free election by “creating an illusion of motion without movement”.
• IEBC had shown no intention of responding to NASA’s concerns as articulated in its irreducible minimums for its participation in the poll.
• Jubilee was amending the electoral laws in parliament to favour itself in the coming election indicating that the re-run would be worse that the August 8 poll. “To Jubilee its bora kura, to us its’s kura bora,” said Raila.

"On its part, the Jubilee administration’s proposed amendment to the election laws demonstrates that it has no intention of competition on a level playing field. The only election Jubilee administration is interested in is one that is a must win, even unlawfully,” said Raila.