- The official election results in Kenya have finally been announced, and Uhuru Kenyatta managed to win the first poll round outright with a narrow 50.7 percent. But the main opponent, PM Raila Odinga, is filing a vote rigging complaint to the courts.
Issack Hassan, the leader of Kenya's independent electoral commission, this afternoon formally declared Mr Kenyatta "the duly elected president of the Republic of Kenya." The electoral commission has kept the Kenyan people waiting in suspense for a week, after technical problems time after time delayed the counting process. But Mr Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's founding President Jomo Kenyatta, most of the time has had a lead in the count.
"Thank you for all your patience and your support along the way," Mr Kenyatta said in his victory speech shortly after the electoral commission made its announcement, where he accepted the highest office in the country. Mr Kenyatta also thanked the commission for having arranged "the most free and most fair general election in our nation's history."
The President-elect said he was especially happy to register that the Kenyan elections this time had been arranged in a peaceful way, despite grim predictions and a long and thrilling counting process.
"We dutifully turned out; we voted in peace; we upheld order and respect for the rule of law and we maintained the fabric of our society," Mr Kenyatta said in his speech. "That is the real victory today. A victory for our nation. A victory that demonstrates to all that Kenya has finally come of age."
The main opponent of Mr Kenyatta, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, was not equally impressed by the work of the electoral commission in his statements today. Already two days ago, he had asked the commission to stop the counting process as his party coalition claimed to have evidence of vote rigging. But this was turned back by a panel of judges.
Mr Odinga today repeated the allegations and said he could not accept the final results, adding he had appealed them to Kenya's Supreme Court. The Prime Minister mentions a number of examples of electoral districts were the number of total votes were higher than the number of registered voters; and districts that according to him were counted twice.
"In this respect, let the Supreme Court determine whether the result announced by [the electoral commission] was a lawful one," Mr Odinga said in a statement. But he repeatedly emphasised that Kenyans must "continue to maintain peace." The Prime Minister in no manner wanted to provoke demonstrations, but rather trusted in the decision of the judiciary.
There were no reports from Nairobi or other Kenyan cities this night indicating riots or big protest action had broken out. People have followed the advices from Mr Kenyatta, Mr Odinga and the electoral commission to maintain peace and order.
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