"I think that they will be extremely cautious," said Jonas Claes, a senior program officer at the United States Institute of Peace. He said he anticipates "a lot more neutral and bland statements."
Aly Verjee, an expert at the United States Institute of Peace, cited a disputed 2011 gubernatorial election in South Kordofan, Sudan, which triggered deadly conflict, as "one of the most egregious examples" of the failure of international observers. In that case, he said, observers prematurely endorsed the poll despite evidence of irregularities.
However, Verjee described much of the criticism of Kenya's election observers as unfair, noting that respected missions urged Odinga to take his complaints to court even though his supporters initially said they would not.
Election observers, Verjee said, "are not forensic investigators, nor police, nor should anyone expect them to be."