Kenyan election commissioners quit

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya

Kenya’s election commission resigned Wednesday, the government said, following months of protests over alleged bias.

All 10 members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) handed resignation letters to President Uhuru Kenyatta after opposition claims that they were unfit to oversee an election due next August led to weekly demonstrations and the deaths of at least four people.

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga had claimed the commissioners were planning to rig the 2017 election in exchange for money and high office in Kenyatta’s government.

In their resignation letters, the commissioners asked the president to allow them to remain until a new board is elected next year.

The resignations came after cross-party talks on the grievances of the protesters who first took to the streets in April.

Kenyatta’s chief of staff Joseph Kinyua confirmed the resignations and said the government was still committed holding a general election in August.