Kenya appoints lawyer to overhaul electoral system

Nairobi, 17 Feb-(ANA)- A Kenyan parliamentary committee appointed a young, high-flying lawyer on Tuesday to overhaul the country's electoral system and avoid a repeat of the disputed 2007 election which sparked weeks of bloodshed.

The parliamentary committee on the constitution named Nairobi-based Cecil Guyana Miller, 39, as head of a new interim electoral commission, which replaces the previous body that was widely blamed for confusion over the 2007 result.

Revamping the electoral system is one of several steps recommended in a series of reports after at least 1,300 people were killed in the worst violence east Africa's biggest economy has witnessed since independence from Britain in 1963.

"The biggest challenge is obviously to return confidence and integrity to our electoral system," Miller, the son of a former chief justice, told reporters. His appointment now needs to be ratified by parliament.

The new electoral commission will create a new voters register and oversee management of any future elections or referendums until a new constitution is passed. A report by Judge Johann Kriegler said 1.2 million dead people were still on the voter's roll during the 2007 election.

Kenya's next election is set for 2012 and parliament is expected to give milestone dates for the new commission by the end of this week.

The election -- which was won by President Mwai Kibaki and disputed by then opposition leader Raila Odinga -- was so badly flawed it was impossible to establish who had won the most votes, Kriegler's report said.

The deadly clashes that followed eventually led to a power-sharing deal that made former political prisoner Odinga prime minister, while Kibaki remained head of state in a coalition government.

But the fragile union is still split on the issue of justice over last year's killings.(ANA)

FA/ANA/17 February 2009---