Kenyans await outcome after tight presidential vote

[NBCNews]

  Steve Crisp / ReutersAn official from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) inspects ballot boxes at Kasarani gymnasium in Kenya's capital Nairobi March 5, 2013. By George Obulutsa and James Macharia, ReutersKenyan authorities hope to deliver the final outcome of a presidential  vote on Wednesday, after partial results showed a lead for a politician  wanted in the Hague over tribal violence at the last election five years  ago.

Counting since Monday's vote has been slow, and a new  electronic voter system has been plagued by hitches, leading to  complaints by political parties and anxiety among voters fearful that a  flawed process could lead to another violent dispute.

Deputy  Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, 51, has kept an early lead since results  started trickling in after polls closed on Monday, but some strongholds  for his rival Prime Minister Raila Odinga, 68, have yet to declare their  results.

Follow @NBCNewsWorldAfter problems with the electronic system, the  electoral commission said it would rely instead on results being  delivered manually to a national tallying center overnight. It said it  hoped to declare the winner on Wednesday and urged Kenyans to remain  calm.

Results released on Tuesday with half of ballots counted  showed Kenyatta, son of Kenya's independence leader and one of Africa's  richest men, leading with 53 percent, against 42 percent for veteran  politician Odinga.    


Kenyatta and his deputy presidential running  mate are both wanted in the Hague on charges of unleashing death squads  after the last vote in 2007, which both men deny.

The last  election saw some 1,200 people killed in ethnic violence after outgoing  president Mwai Kibaki was declared the victor over Odinga. This time,  Monday's vote saw at least 15 people killed in pockets of violence but  no repeat so far of unrest on such a large scale.

If neither  major candidate wins 50 percent of the vote, Kenyatta and Odinga would  have to face each other in a second round run-off, penciled in for next  month if necessary.

"We can confirm that our returning officers  are expected to bring the physical results at anytime now, which will  lead to the final results. What matters here is the final result and  they are coming in," Ahmed Issack Hassan, chairman of the Independent  Electoral and Boundaries commission, told a news conference on Tuesday  evening.

Hassan repeated that despite the hitches, he expected the vote to be fair and credible. Noor Khamis / ReutersAn administration policeman gives directions to a party agent arriving with ballot boxes at Saint Teresa's Girls High School in Kenya's capital Nairobi March 5, 2013. "We  therefore continue to appeal for patience from the public," he said  earlier in the day. "Nobody should celebrate, nobody should complain."

To  try to prevent a repeat of the contested outcome that sparked the  violence after the December 2007 vote, the new, broadly-respected  election commission is using more technology to prevent fraud, speed up  counting and increase transparency. But the new system has come up short  of its expectations.

Early lead

Election officials had said turnout was more than 70 percent of the 14.3 million eligible voters.

Kenyans,  who waited patiently in long lines, hope the vote will restore the  nation's image as one of Africa's more stable democracies, damaged by  the tribal blood-letting in 2007.

Kenya is East Africa's biggest  economy and, although led by authoritarian and corrupt rulers for most  of its half century of independence, has been spared the civil wars that  devastated neighbors like Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.

More  recently it has served as an ally of the West against Islamist  militancy in the horn of Africa, sending troops to Somalia to fight  al-Shabaab rebels. An explosion struck a predominantly Somali  neighborhood in the capital Nairobi late on Tuesday, injuring one  person, highlighting the threat from insurgents in the region.

The  United States and Western donors have watched the vote closely,  concerned about the stability of their ally and fretting about what to  do if Kenyatta wins and its new president is an indicted international  crimes suspect.

Real test

The broadly peaceful voting on  Monday and the big turnout are positive signs, but the real test will  be whether the candidates and their backers accept the result.

The  shilling currency lost some of its earlier gains after the slow count  cast doubt on whether a first-round victor would emerge. Analysts said  an outright win would be preferred to a run-off, which would prolong  uncertainty.

As in past elections in Kenya, much of the voting  has been on ethnic lines, with Kenyatta enjoying strong support among  his Kikuyu tribe, Kenya's largest, and Odinga backed by the Luo, the  tribe which includes the family of President Barack Obama.

In  a country with a handful of large tribes and dozens of smaller ones,  both candidates lead broader coalitions and are also relying on support  from the tribes of their running mates.

William Ruto, Kenyatta's  running mate who also faces charges of crimes against humanity at the  ICC, said the process of tallying and relaying results had seen serious  challenges.

The electoral commission decided to count more than  330,000 ballots that had earlier been disallowed. Ruto suggested this  could be a move to block a Kenyatta victory in the first round.

"We  want to believe that this is not an attempt to deny the Jubilee  Coalition a first round victory as is clearly now on the wall," he told  reporters, referring to a screen with the latest tally. "We urge every  Kenyan to be calm and very patient and await the official release of  these results by the commission."

All the candidates have  pledged to accept the outcome, and ordinary Kenyans speak passionately  about their determination not to allow a repeat of the violence five  years ago.

Streets have been all but deserted with businesses  closed, including supermarkets and security personnel were beefed up  countrywide in readiness for possible demonstrators.

Some residents in Odinga's western Kisumu heartland were still optimistic that the tide would change in his favor.

"People  should be patient; in 2007 Mr Odinga was leading against Mwai Kibaki in  preliminary results. The following day when we woke up, things turned  upside down and Kibaki won the elections. I believe the same thing could  happen," said 31-year-old Christopher Otieno, a businessman.

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