Kenya's election

Interesting article in yesterday's New York Times about the exit poll conducted by the International Republican Institute (the Republican counterpart to my old employer NDI), and commissioned by USAID, for Kenya's December 2007 elections. The piece asks whether the US government pressed IRI to withhold the poll results because they showed opposition leader Raila Odinga winning. The funny thing about Kenya's election is that the US government has been accused of being in the tank for both President Mwai Kibaki - by prematurely congratulating his reelection - and for Odinga, by pushing Kibaki's side to accept a power sharing agreement once things started getting ugly. This latest would suggest more the former. Though if Odinga bears any grudges, he hasn't shown them. Worth a look, or check out my friend Aaron's assessment at Africa Matters, which makes several points I agree with, including that the power-sharing agreement is not a sustainable model for African democracy.