Kenya opposition vows to defy protest ban amid election crisis

– Senate approves election laws –

Odinga said this week that he was withdrawing from the scheduled re-run against President Uhuru Kenyatta whose victory in the original August poll was annulled last month by the Supreme Court citing widespread irregularities.

Odinga said that without fundamental reforms to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the vote would not be free and fair.

“All indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one,” he said, announcing his withdrawal Tuesday.

The IEBC has dismissed most of Odinga’s demands and on Wednesday said he had not filled in the appropriate form for withdrawing from the re-run and therefore was still a candidate alongside Kenyatta.

The commission also agreed to add six candidates who contested the original poll after the High Court ruled they should not be excluded.

On Thursday the country’s Senate approved a raft of amendments to electoral laws that Odinga has charged will make the “irregularities” cited by the Supreme Court legal.

The new laws will allow manual vote counting to supersede electronically transmitted results and make tally forms count even if there is “a deviation from the requirements of the form”.

Among the irregularities noted by the Supreme Court was the number of vote tallying sheets that were unsigned, not stamped, or did not contain watermarks or serial numbers — despite the fact that one company was hired to print them out.

Kenyatta has said he will sign the amendments into law without hesitation.