NAIROBI
(Reuters) - A senior Kenyan election official was found murdered on Monday
three days after going missing, poll officials said, stirring fears of turmoil
before next week's national vote.
before next week's national vote.
Chris
Msando, the election board's head of information, communication and technology,
was tortured before he died, the vote body told journalists, without giving
further details.
Kenyans -
who saw their 2007 vote descend into ethnic violence - will chose their next
president, lawmakers and local representatives on Tuesday next week.
"There's
no doubt that he was tortured and murdered," Wafula Chebukati, the chair
of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, told journalists
outside the City Mortuary.
"The
only issue is who killed him and why ... I demand from the government that they
provide security for all members of the IEBC for them to give Kenya free and
fair elections."
Police were
not immediately available for comment.
"This
is someone who was involved in a critical component of the elections - the
electronic infrastructure. This will definitely raise suspicious and undermine
public confidence in the outcome," said Rashid Abdi, regional analyst at
International Crisis Group.
President
Uhuru Kenyatta, seeking a second and final five-year term, is running against
veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Odinga says
that fraud robbed him of victory in the last two elections. In 2013, electronic
voting machines suffered widespread malfunctions, but Odinga took his
complaints to court, which dismissed them.
In 2007, he
called for street protests after tallying was abruptly stopped and a winner
announced. Political protests and ethnic violence killed more than 1,200
people.
The
announcement of Msando's death came days after an attacker killed a policeman
outside the vice president's country home.
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