MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION

14.1.2008

to wind up the debate on statements by the Council and Commission
pursuant to Rule 103(2) of the Rules of Procedure
by Marie-Hélène Aubert, Margrete Auken and Frithjof Schmidt
on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
on Kenya

B6‑0026/2008

European Parliament resolution on Kenya

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the ‘Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation’ and the ‘Code of Conduct for International Election Observers’, commemorated at the United Nations on 27 October 2005,

–  having regard to the Preliminary Statement of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) in Kenya of 1 January 2008,

–  having regard to the Declaration by the Presidency of the European Union on behalf of the European Union concerning Presidential Elections in Kenya of 8 January 2008,

–  having regard to Rule 103(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas presidential and legislative elections were held in Kenya on 27 December 2007 where nine parties fielded presidential candidates, including President Kibaki from the Party of National Unity (PNU) and Ralia Odinga for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM),

B.  whereas Mr Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement won 99 seats and Mr Kibaki’s Party of National Unity obtained 43 seats out of 210 in the national parliament,

C.  worried by the eruption of violence and killings following the announcement of the result by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) declaring Mr Kibaki as winner of the presidential election,

D.  whereas the EU-EOM statement shows that the elections in Kenya have fallen short of basic international and regional standards for democratic elections, and were marred by a lack of transparency in the processing and tallying of presidential results,

E.  recalling that the 2002 elections marked a significant improvement with regard to their administration and competitiveness, which allowed a smooth transition towards the democratisation process,

F.  whereas the post-election unrest and turmoil has caused loss of lives and property and the displacement of more than 100,000 people, particularly from the cities of Eldoret, Kericho and Kisumu,

G.  whereas the current political crisis has its genesis in the previous National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) which won the 2000 election, when Mr Kibaki and Odinga agreed to share power, an agreement which was not honoured,

H.  whereas discontent and disappointment within the former National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) led to division between the Kibaki and Odinga political parties,

I.  noting that the 2007 campaign atmosphere was characterised by a strong ethno-political polarisation between the Kibaki and Odinga camps, which led to a tense atmosphere in their respective ethnic communities,

J.  worried by the widespread practice of money and gift distribution by candidates, which was reported by the Kenyan National Commission for Human rights (KNHCR) and observed by the EU mission,

K.  whereas Kenya is the 10th most unequal country in the world in terms of wealth disparities, and the majority of its population lives in poverty,

1.  Condemns the tragic loss of life and property and calls therefore on the two contenders to do their utmost to bring peace to their country and ensure that respect for human rights and the rule of law prevails;

2.  Calls upon all political party leaders to take responsibility for preventing further violence in the country and to demonstrate a commitment to peaceful resolution of the post‑electoral conflict;

3.  Endorses the conclusions presented by the EUEOM in its Preliminary Statement;

4.  Regrets that, despite the broadly successful parliamentary elections, the results of the presidential elections cannot be considered credible due to widespread reports of electoral irregularities;

5.  Calls on the two leaders to engage in dialogue in order to bring a peaceful and democratic solution to the current political crisis based on the rule of law and the constitution;

6.  Calls for a recount of the votes under the auspices of an independent body with international participation and, if necessary, for the re-running of the elections;

7.  Regrets that the 2007 general elections missed the opportunity to consolidate, further develop and build on the asset of the 2002 democratic process;

8.  Calls on all political leaders to put an end to the widespread practice of money and gift distribution by candidates, which is incompatible with international standards for campaigning in democratic elections; calls therefore for ways and means to be explored of creating a transparent and democratic system to finance political parties and election campaigns;

9.  Regrets the disbursement of the EDF budget aid for the Kibaki government directly after the elections, which could be misunderstood as politically biased, and asks for the freezing of all further disbursements to the government of Kenya until a political resolution to the present crisis has been found;

10.  Calls on the Commission and Member States of the EU to provide quick and un-bureaucratic humanitarian aid to the internally displaced and other victims of the unrest;

11.  Urges the Kenyan authorities to address the economic disparity between the rich and the poor in order to pave the way for the balanced distribution of wealth in the country; urges also that the root causes of the corruption that has undermined governance in much of the country, especially at state and local levels, should be addressed;

12.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the government of Kenya, the Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the Chairmen of the Commission and Executive Council of the African Union.