•Applauds Odinga's Conduct
• Victory Portends Trouble For Kenya
PRESIDENT Jonathan has sent a congratulatory message to Kenya's President-elect, Uhuru Kenyatta, on his victory in Monday's presidential election in Kenya as declared yesterday in Nairobi by the country's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
In a statement signed by Reuben Abati, his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), the President also applauded the call by Kenyatta's closest rival for the Presidency, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, for his supporters to remain calm and eschew violent protests while he takes his complaints about the election results to the Kenyan Supreme Court.
Kenyatta will assume office later this month as first Kenyan President to come into office under the country's new Constitution, which was adopted after the crisis that followed its 2007 elections.
Jonathan urged the Kenya's President-elect to rededicate himself to carrying forward the process of national healing and reconciliation.
He called on him to do his "utmost best to foster greater peace, unity and progress in the country" by forming a truly national administration that would meet the yearnings and aspirations of all Kenyans, including his opponents and their supporters.
According to Abati, Jonathan welcomes Odinga's expression of confidence in the court and his pledge to adhere to the rule of law and accept the court's verdict on the elections in good faith.
President Jonathan also commended "the ordinary people of Kenya, who showed their undying faith in democratic governance by turning out in their millions to set a new voter turn-out record of 86 per cent in Monday's elections."
Kenyans breathed a sigh of relief, after the tormenting vote counts that lasted five days came to an end with the Deputy Prime Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, confirmed as the winner of the presidential election. Even as it may not yet be uhuru for Kenyatta as he is set to face criminal charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in July.
The election, which had generated a lot of anxiety in Kenya and within the international community saw Kenyatta's main rival and Prime Minister, Odinga, gave his deputy a run for his money.
At a ceremony held at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi yesterday the Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Isaack Hassan, formally declared Uhuru Kenyatta the duly elected president of Kenya.
Hassan stated that Kenyatta won the election with 6,173,433 of the total votes against his closest rival Odinga who came second with 5,340,546. Kenyatta surpassed the constitutional threshold of 50 per cent plus one votes by 4,100 votes garnering him 50.07 per cent of the votes.
In his speech Hassan declared "the long road to the 2013 election is now drawing to a close" adding that it was a challenge to undertake the election in a single day as the constitution required.
Chief Electoral Officer, James Oswago, stated, "Democracy is about tolerance of diversity, but democracy where it involves competitive policies teaches a lesson on humility" as he cautioned Kenyans to "celebrate mightily" but not too exuberantly.
Oswago said the array of technologies introduced by the commission were meant to deal with the shortcomings of the flawed 2007 election and expressed gratitude to all IEBC staff for their support that helped the commission manage the election in one day.
Odinga, however, alleged voting irregularities and is expected to file a challenge. The prime minister's Cord Alliance had earlier complained that votes from 11 constituencies were missing, in effect leaving him more than 250,000 votes short.
Both men passed a second condition needed for victory - at least 25 per cent of the vote in more than half of the 47 counties. One of Odinga's aides - speaking before the announcement - said the candidate had "no intention" of conceding defeat.
Kenyatta's victory would lead the international community into dangerously unfamiliar territory, with possibly far-reaching deleterious consequences for the United States and British relations with Kenya, UN operations and the struggle against terrorism.
Kenyatta is accused of fuelling the communal violence that saw more than 1,000 people killed and 600,000 forced from their homes.
Yesterday, small groups of Kenyatta supporters celebrated in Nairobi, hooting car horns and singing.
The Guardian