AKIPRESS.COM - A top Kenyan election commissioner has quit and fled the country a week before a re-run of the presidential vote, citing political intimidation and saying the election would be a “mockery” of democracy, Reuters reported.

The resignation of Roselyn Akombe, one of seven election board commissioners, is likely to be seized upon by the opposition to bolster its claim that the Oct. 26 poll will not be fair.

The re-run was ordered by the Supreme Court on Sept. 1 after it nullified the Aug. 8 re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta, following a petition by opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Odinga withdrew from the repeat poll last week, saying the election board had not carried out reforms demanded by the opposition.

His move thrust the country, a key Western ally and also the richest economy in the region, deeper into political uncertainty.

The election board has said the poll will go ahead with seven candidates on the ballot, including Odinga.

Akombe, a member of the election board’s top panel, cited severe partisan political divisions among its eight members and the secretariat for her decision to leave.