Tensions escalate as Kenyan election commissioner flees before vote

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Kenyan officials are pushing ahead with an election next week, despite an opposition boycott, concerns about credibility, warnings of intimidation tactics and an election commissioner's shocking decision to flee the country in fear for her life.

The election on Oct. 26 is almost certain to produce a victory for President Uhuru Kenyatta, after the boycott by his main opponent. But the country is dangerously divided, with frequent street demonstrations and a violent police crackdown, and the opposition vowing to hold massive protests on election day.

Tensions escalated on Wednesday after the dramatic departure of Roselyn Akombe, one of the seven members of Kenya's election commission. On a logistics trip to Dubai, she bolted to New York so that she wouldn't have to return to Kenya, and then announced her resignation.

She said she had agonized over her decision, but warned that the election would be a "mockery" under current conditions.

"It broke my heart in the last few days to listen to my staff in the field, the majority of whom truly want to do the right thing, express to me their safety and security concerns," Ms. Akombe said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The commission is under siege," the former United Nations official said. "It is not too late to save our country from crisis. We need just a few men and women of integrity to stand up and say that we cannot proceed with the election on Oct. 26 as currently planned."

Kenya is one of Africa's leading democracies and biggest economies, and its fate is crucial to the continent. Hopes for its democracy were buoyed when Kenya's Supreme Court nullified an August election and ordered a fairer one. But now the battle between the two main parties is reaching dangerous levels.

An election next week cannot be credible, Ms. Akombe said. "Not when, in parts of the country, the training of presiding officers is being rushed for fear of attacks from protesters. Not when commissioners and staff are intimidated by political actors and protesters and fear for their lives. Not when senior secretariat staff and commissioners are serving partisan political interests."

The election commission's chairman, Wafula Chebukati, called a press conference within a few hours of Ms. Akombe's resignation and conceded it will be difficult to hold a free and fair election next week. He said the commission is technically prepared for the vote, but it is badly divided and swayed by partisan interests.

"I have made several attempts to make critical changes, but all my motions have been defeated by a majority of the commissioners," he said. "Under such conditions, it is difficult to guarantee free, fair and credible elections. Without critical changes in key secretariat staff, free, fair and credible elections will surely be compromised."

Mr. Chebukati pleaded with the politicians to stop interfering with the election commission's work. He begged them to reduce tensions to avoid a repeat of the violence that killed about 1,500 Kenyans after the 2007 election.

"I will not tolerate interference in the commission any more," he said. "I will not tolerate threats to my staff. The political leaders that are supposed to build the nation have become the greatest threats to the peace and stability of the nation."

The main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, insisted that the protests by his supporters will continue. He said the voting-day protests "will be the biggest demonstration of them all."

In response to the protests so far, Kenyan police have killed at least 33 people and injured hundreds more, often using brutal and excessive force, according to a report this week by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.