From the article:
After one annulled presidential election and one passionately disputed do-over, Kenya
is confronting a serious crisis of democracy. On Tuesday, the country’s Supreme Court made the first of several rulings regarding the outcome of the most recent vote, which was won by incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta. If he is sworn in as president for the second time on Nov. 28, Kenya risks another round of destabilizing protests.
Kenya’s political leaders bear the lion’s share of responsibility for this mess. Yet international election observers also let themselves down, having failed to identify the many problems with the first of those two elections — shortly before it was canceled.
Sadly, this failure is part of a trend. Too often the election cops are letting the bad guys get away. Worse, they may be abetting the theft of many nascent democracies.
Election monitors regularly fly into a country to watch voting. Ideally, they are objective witnesses to a poll, helping to deter violence and to boost the credibility of the result. Monitors are supposed to help make democracy work.
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