Kenya elections: Voters wait for final results

Jubilee Alliance’s Uhuru Kenyatta, was, by press time, in pole position to become Kenya’s fourth President, with about 54 per cent of the approximately one third of votes which had been tallied. According to provisional results by yesterday evening, Kenyatta was leading with 2.7 million votes while his closest challenger, Prime Minister Raila Odinga had garnered 2.1 million votes, about41 per cent of the vote. There are a total of eight candidated vying for State House.Kenyans on Monday voted for a president, senators, members of parliament, county governors and representatives to the newly formed county assembly.The general election is the first since the deadly ethnic violence that followed disputed polls in 2007.Turnout topped 70 per cent, the head of the Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission, Ahmed Issack Hassan, told journalists on Monday.Observers call for calm Regional observers yesterday called for a continued atmosphere of calmness ahead of announcement of the winner.The East African Community (EAC), Common for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and Intergovernmental Authority (IGAD) jointly deployed 78 observers across Kenya to observe the elections.As the counting and tallying continued across the country by press time yesterday, the observers called on Kenyans to maintain the same peaceful atmosphere during the remaining stages of the electoral process.“The Mission appeals to all political players and candidates to accept the outcome of the elections and for patience of all Kenyans while waiting for the final results,” EAC Head of Mission Abdulrahman Kinana said.“In the event that there is reason to challenge the results, we urge everyone to use the provided legal channels to solve their disputes.”They described the 2013 Kenyan elections as having met regional and international standards for credible and transparent elections despite a few challenges.“Though there have been challenges relating to the verification of voters, the Mission concludes that the 2013 Kenyan general elections met regional, continental and international standards,” Kinana said in a joint statement.During polling day on Monday, security forces were seen keeping full presence to prevent any scuffles in all the stations the observers visited.

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Kenya elections: Voters wait for final results