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World briefs: Kenya opposition alliance seen 'dead' as Odinga breaks ranks

World briefs: Kenya opposition alliance seen 'dead' as Odinga breaks ranks

Kenya’s main opposition alliance was cast into disarray after its leader Raila Odinga broke ranks and agreed to a truce with President Uhuru Kenyatta following a seven-month standoff over disputed elections.

Odinga said March 9 he was abandoning a defiance campaign aimed at toppling Kenyatta and will work with him on fostering national unity instead -- an announcement that caught the other three main leaders of his National Super Alliance by surprise. The ructions in the opposition will help Kenyatta consolidate power during his second and final term and are a boon for the ruling Jubilee Party as it gears up for the next elections in 2022.

The truce may be good news for East Africa’s largest economy, which has been weighed down by political uncertainty and violence that has cost dozens of lives.

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Kenyatta, 56, was declared the winner of Aug. 8 presidential elections, Nasa rejected the results as rigged and the Supreme Court nullified the outcome. Nasa then boycotted an Oct. 26 rerun, saying the shortcomings identified during the first vote hadn’t been addressed. Kenyatta secured 98 percent support on much lower turnout and the court upheld his victory, which the opposition took to the streets to protest.

Candidates critical of historic peace accord dominate Colombia’s election

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s fragile peace deal was under pressure after candidates who have vowed to dismantle portions of the historic accord made strong showings in weekend congressional and presidential primary elections.

Former president and now center-right Sen. Alvaro Uribe won the largest number of votes in his successful re-election bid while his party’s presidential candidate, Ivan Duque, crushed other conservative contenders in the primary portion of the voting.

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Both have said the peace deal signed by the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is too generous to the rebels, particularly justice provisions that set minimal terms for the most heinous of war crimes.

Followers of Nobel Prize laureate and President Juan Manuel Santos and candidates of a rebel party fared poorly. The election marked the first time members of the rebel party had run for office.

Meanwhile, candidates of the FARC, the same initials as the rebel army but now standing as Spanish initials for the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force, made a miserable showing at the polls. Its candidates attracted fewer than 90,000 votes, compared with 500,000 that Senate candidate and party spokesman Carlos Antonio Lozada set as a goal.

Rebranded now as politicians, the former rebels have had difficulty escaping the long shadow left by a half century of killings, kidnappings and extortion, said political analyst Ariel Avila. He said many left-leaning people voted for other candidates they perceived as having better chances of winning.

Italy's ruling party shuns deals with Five Star, center-right

The acting leader of Italy’s ruling Democratic Party rejected approaches from the center-right and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement as the fractious party agonizes over whether it should help break the country’s political gridlock.

Deputy-secretary Maurizio Martina said the party intended to “deeply respect” voters who inflicted its worst-ever result on March 4. Italians favored the center-right and Five Star, which were the biggest winners, though neither received enough votes to govern alone.

The party is in a position to form a majority with either of the two main groups, but is divided on how to respond to approaches from Five Star and from the center-right which is led by the anti-migrant League. PD officials say a large majority wants it to be in opposition, though anything could happen in the weeks to come.

First Published: March 13, 2018, 4:00 a.m.

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