Mr Kenyatta denies fuelling communal violence after the 2007
presidential vote
|
Kenya's
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta appears to have won the presidential
election by the tightest of margins, provisional results indicate.
After all the votes were counted, he had polled 50.03% of
the vote, 4,109 votes over the threshold required for outright victory.
But the official result will not come until 11:00 on
Saturday (08:00 GMT).
Rival candidate Raila Odinga is likely to file a legal
challenge if he loses.
Mr Kenyatta won 6,173,433 votes out of a total of
12,338,667, well ahead of the prime minister, who polled 5,340,546.
However, both candidates have complained of irregularities
during the course of the count, since Monday's election.
If Mr Kenyatta is confirmed by Kenya's Independent Electoral
and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), he could face difficult relations with
Western countries.
He faces trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in
The Hague in July for crimes against humanity.
He is accused of fuelling communal violence after the 2007
election that saw more than 1,000 people killed and 600,000 forced from their
homes.
Mr Kenyatta's running mate, William Ruto, also faces similar
charges.
Both men deny the accusations.
The ICC has agreed to postpone Mr Ruto's trial by a month
until May after his lawyers complained of not having enough time to prepare his
defence.
No comments:
Post a Comment