Kenyan election official killed days before vote
Christopher Msando, an information technology official for Kenya's electoral commission, has been found tortured and killed, the commission chairman said Monday.
Nairobi, Kenya (CNN)A senior Kenyan election official has been found dead just days before the country goes to the polls.
Chris Msando was head of information technology for Kenya's Integrated Electoral Management System. His department was responsible for voter identification and result transmission technology for the August 8 elections.
Msando had last been heard from early Saturday -- when he sent a text message to a colleague.
"We learned in shock, the killing and murder of our employee, Chris Msando. There's no doubt that he was tortured and murdered," Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati said Monday. Msando's death has raised fresh fears over Kenya's ability to deliver credible elections.
"The only issue is who killed him and why ... I demand from the government that they provide security for all employees of IEBC, for us to give Kenyans a free and fair election," Chebukati said.
Election observers from the nongovernmental watchdog Carter Center had said in a pre-election statement that the smooth functioning of the voter identification system was key to "preventing malpractice on election day."
Chebukati, who addressed journalists outside the Nairobi's city morgue, said the voting authority is working with police to find those responsible for Msando's death. The bodies of the election official and an unidentified woman were found on the outskirts of the city on Saturday, according to The Starnewspaper.
Efforts by CNN to get a comment on the case from police were not immediately successful.
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