Friday, March 8, 2013

Kenya election: Uhuru Kenyatta 'wins vote count'

Uhuru Kenyatta (file pic from 4 March)
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.

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