An officer secures a waiting line at a polling station in Nairobi, Kenya, Oct. 26, 2017. Voting in Kenya's repeat presidential polls began on Thursday as some polling stations, mainly in opposition strongholds, reported disruptions and low voter turnout. Chen Cheng/PA Images. All rights reserved.The results of Kenya’s presidential election are not yet in, and voting will continue in some areas on Saturday, but Raila Odinga’s decision to boycott the election leaves only one outcome possible: President Uhuru Kenyatta will have the majority of votes cast.
Any result, however, is marred by the choice millions of Kenyans made to not participate in the most basic, fundamental exercise of democracy. It is marred by the reality that without Odinga, the election was not a contest.
Turnout across the country was much, much lower than in the previous vote in August. It may well prove to have been the lowest turnout in Kenya’s history of multi-party elections. Many people, even if they favoured Kenyatta, were anxious, and either decided that going to vote was not worth the trouble, or that elections should have been delayed, and stayed at home.
