Commonwealth observer group scales down Kenya election monitoring amid security fears

godfred akoto

October 25, 2017 4:48 AM

The group came in for criticism after the first round of election

The Commonwealth will not be sending election observers to Kenya’s election on October 26 after citing security concerns.

The organisation made up of former British colonies had been one of the leading groups during the first election that was later annulled by the Supreme Court of Kenya and came under criticism from the opposition NASA party after former Ghana president, John Mahama, who served as head of the group, endorsed the election as free and fair.

According to Kenyan media outlet Nation, the Commonwealth confirmed its absence through a statement sent to it.

“The Commonwealth is not deploying an election observation group for the presidential election.

"We sent a team of observers to the first set of elections and this time we will have a presence in the form of Commonwealth staff who are already on the ground."

With tension high within the country ahead of the poll,the Commonwealth Group is not the only observer considering its safety. The European Union has confirmed it will scale down on the number of observers in operation during the election .

“We have assessed the safety of our observers considering the extreme tension, disruptions of polling preparations, and strong criticism that has been made of the international community. Based on this, we have had to reconsider the extent to which we can observe across the country.

“The mission will have a reduced number of observers. Rather than giving a comprehensive assessment of election day and tallying, the mission will focus its observation on systemic issues, including results transmission and the availability of results forms.

godfred akoto