Kenyatta leads in Kenya vote count

Posted on March 05, 2013

Kenyatta leads in Kenya vote count

Kenya's Deputy Prime Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta is leading the country's presidential polls, taking 54 per cent of the approximately one third of votes.

His main rival, PM Raila Odinga of the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord) had 41%, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) website said.

The next nearest challenger is Musailia Mudavadi, of the Peace coalition, who trailed far behind with or 3% .

None of the other five candidates for the presidency had more than 1% . More than 250,000 spoiled ballots have also been counted so far, the IEBC noted with concern.

To win outright, a candidate must get 50% of votes cast plus one vote, as well as at least 25% of votes in half of Kenya's 47 counties. If no-one achieves that, the vote will go to a run-off, probably on 11 April.

In a news conference, IEBC Chairman, Issack Hassan called for people to "resist making early judgments about who has won" , and said final results would not be released within 48 hours.

He said candidates and parties were under obligation to "accept the results peacefully."

There are fears the loser might not accept the official result, triggering an outburst of violence.

Widespread failure of newly instituted biometric voting kits, reports of late voting at one polling station hours after polls closed officially, and an instance of a poll clerk issuing multiple ballots have all already been cited by Mr Odinga's party as cause for concern.

"These we find to be placing in jeopardy the credibility of this process," said Frank Bett from Mr Odinga's Cord alliance.

Both leading candidates have pledged to respect the result of a free and fair vote.

ICC indictment
Mr Kenyatta will stand trial at the ICC for his alleged role in the 2007 unrest, when supporters of the rival candidates, from different ethnic groups, took up arms against each other.

Mr Odinga later joined a government of national unity under a peace deal.

The US and other Western allies of Kenya have warned of possible "consequences" if Mr Kenyatta wins.

However, Mr Kenyatta's running mate, William Ruto, who also faces charges of crimes against humanity, insisted on Monday that they would be able to discharge their duties if elected and would co-operate with the ICC to clear their names. Both deny any wrongdoing.

Kenyans are also choosing members of parliament and senators, county governors and members of the 47 newly formed county assemblies.

BBC/Ibisaki