Nairobi - Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the Kenyan government on Friday to reform its electoral system after an independent report found serious problems with last December's disputed presidential elections.

"This report must not be simply brushed aside and allowed to gather dust," Annan told journalists in Nairobi. "The devastation wreaked in this country was too grave."

"This is why I urge all concerned... to take heed of this report and see that it is implemented," he continued.

During the post-election violence earlier this year, more than 1,500 people died in clashes between rival tribes affiliated to political parties and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes.

The clashes were prompted by Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga's accusation that President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity had rigged the elections.

Calm returned after several months and a deal negotiated by Annan saw the creation of a power-sharing government, with Odinga sworn in as prime minister in April.

As part of the deal, an independent commission led by former South African judge Johann Kriegler was set up to investigate the election.

"The main finding is that elections in Kenya are notoriously bad and have been bad for many years," Kriegler said as he presented the report, which he handed over to Kibaki on Wednesday.

The report found widespread bribery, vote-buying, intimidation and ballot-stuffing in the disputed elections.

Almost one-third of eligible voters were excluded, mainly women and young people, and 1.2 million dead people were included in the electoral roll, the commission found.

Kriegler said that the 2007 elections were not significantly worse than earlier polls, but that the tightness of the race between Kibaki and Odinga raised tensions and meant that the flaws in the system were further exposed.

However, the commission was unable to find any evidence of rigging at the main vote counting centre, and said that the voting was so compromised at a local level it was impossible to know who actually won the election.

"The elections were so tainted by these multiple irregularities... nobody can tell you who won," chief investigator Kriegler said.

The commission said that serious reform was required, including the replacement or overhaul of the Kenyan Electoral Commission and a new electoral system to replace the current pen-and-paper proceedings, to avoid more violence at the next elections.

"If Kenyans don't address the need to reform, then the events of January 2008 may well look like a Christmas party in 2012," Kriegler warned. (dpa)