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U.S. Envoy: Kenya President Elections Were Rigged

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Jan 7, 2008 8:30 am US/Eastern

U.S. Envoy: Kenya President Elections Were Rigged

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: A protester holds a sign during a demonstration in a street leading out of the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, on Jan. 3, 2008.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

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The vote count from Kenya's election was rigged, but both parties could have been involved, the chief U.S. envoy for Africa said Monday, declining to blame either President Mwai Kibaki or the opposition leader who ran against him.

The opposition leader, Raila Odinga, canceled nationwide protests on Monday, saying he wanted to avoid new violence and give mediation a chance to resolve the election standoff that has killed nearly 500 people in political and ethnic bloodletting.

"Yes, there was rigging," the U.S. envoy, Jendayi Frazer, told The Associated Press. "I mean there were problems with the vote counting process ... both the parties could have rigged."

She said both rival parties could have been involved and that she did not want to blame either Kibaki or Odinga.

Frazer, who has spent three days negotiating with Kibaki and Odinga, said at an earlier news conference that Kenyans "have been cheated by their political leadership and their institutions." In particular, Frazer said, the electoral commission was flawed and needed reform.

The commission chairman has admitted that he is not sure Kibaki won the vote.

The Dec. 27 vote was only the country's second free election since independence in 1963.