The World - News from March 23, 1988

An outspoken critic of Kenya’s government charged that vote fraud in this week’s one-party general elections cost him the seat in Parliament he has held since 1963. Martin Shikuku, from the western Kenyan district of Butere, said that massive ballot fraud was carried out by the Kenyan National African Union, the country’s only legal political party. Official results showed that Shikuku lost by 400 votes to the same man he had defeated by more than 4,000 votes in a primary contest last month. Shikuku’s opponent, Jesse Opembe, a Nairobi businessman, increased his vote total by 9,000.