Sunday 30 December 2007
Kenya's knife-edge election count has been halted amid chaotic scenes at the offices of the electoral commission.
There were scuffles at the counting centre in Nairobi as party rivals demanded recounts of Thursday's vote.
Officials suspended the count until Sunday. The delays have already sparked violence and looting across Kenya, with at least three deaths reported.
Latest figures suggest that President Mwai Kibaki is now neck and neck with his opponent Raila Odinga.
The European Union's election observer, Alexander Lambsdorff, said there was a massive question mark over the tallying of votes.
While the presidential candidates are neck-and-neck, the election has seen a clear rejection of Mr Kibaki's government, with about 20 ministers losing their seats.
With almost 90% of votes tallied in 180 out of a total 210 constituencies, the Electoral Commission gave Mr Odinga 3.88m votes to Mr Kibaki's 3.84m.
Roadblocks and Bonfires
Mr Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement had held the lead since vote counting began, but he has since seen his advantage evaporate.
Chaotic scenes erupted at the count in Nairobi on Saturday afternoon, when election chair Samuel Kivuitu announced results that largely cancelled out much of Mr Odinga's lead.
As rival party agents clashed, paramilitary police had to rush in and restore order.
Mr Kivuitu told politicians: "Nobody can push me, not even you!" He added: "We are Kenyans, not beasts."
The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says Mr Kivuitu has outlined a number of electoral irregularities that have dogged the process.
These include returning officers vanishing due to intimidation and a case in one constituency of turnout being higher than the number of registered voters.
Mr Kibaki's Party of National Unity said it would wait for the official results, and urged officials to speed up the count.
Both sides have raised allegations of vote rigging and rioting has broken out in some opposition strongholds.
There were also reports of trouble in Kisumu, Bungoma, Busia, Eldoret, Kericho and Kakamega.
Police have fired tear gas and gunshots into the air to disperse angry demonstrators who lit bonfires, set up roadblocks and even burned down homes.
Several people have died in the violence, including a man shot dead in a row at a polling station in western Nyanza province, police said.
"They want to steal votes. They are counting votes from regions favouring Kibaki and then they want to declare him the winner," said one protester, Peter Oduor.
Ethnic Violence
Much of the violence was enacted along ethnic lines, with Luo supporters of Mr Odinga clashing with members of Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.
An Electoral Commission spokesman told the BBC that turnout had perhaps been more than 70%, from an electorate of 14m.
Results so far show a majority of MPs have lost their seats.
Kenyan parliamentarians gained notoriety in the past five years for arbitrarily increasing their salaries and allowances, while a majority of Kenyans continued to grapple with meagre wages and a high cost of living.
Vice-President Moody Awori was one of about 20 ministers who lost their seats.
The vote also saw three sons of retired president Daniel Arap Moi lose their seats in three different constituencies in the Rift Valley province.
Mr Moi has helped fund Mr Kibaki's campaign. If he loses, Mr Kibaki, who came to power with a landslide victory in 2002, will be Kenya's first sitting president ousted at the ballot box.
Kibaki Declared Winner of Kenya Election
By Andrew Cawthorne and Nicolo Gnecchi
Reuters
Sunday 30 December 2007
Nairobi - President Mwai Kibaki beat opposition rival Raila Odinga by a narrow margin to win re-election in Kenya's closest ever vote, the head of the country's electoral commission (ECK) said on Sunday.
Thousands of pro-opposition protesters immediately launched angry demonstrations, burning shacks in the capital's Kibera slum. Mr. Odinga has accused the government of widespread rigging - allegations that had already fuelled two days of ethnic riots.
Police also fired teargas in another slum in the capital.
Mr. Kibaki was sworn in immediately at State House, witnesses said, as the announcement of his victory sent his supporters pouring into the streets in celebration, many beeping car horns.
"Honourable Mwai Kibaki is the winner," ECK chairman Samuel Kivuitu told a small group of reporters at the tally centre.
Scuffles and heckling had erupted moments earlier, forcing paramilitary police to escort Kivuitu to safety soon after he began reading final results in the cliffhanger vote.
Party agents, politicians and most journalists were then ejected from the Nairobi conference centre, and the ECK head completed the results announcements in front of a small group.
Chief European Union observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said some doubts remained about the accuracy of the final count.
"We believe that, at this time, the ECK, despite the best efforts of its chairman, has not succeeded in establishing the credibility of the tallying process to the satisfaction of all parties and candidates," he said in a statement.
"We regret that it has not been possible to address irregularities about which both the EU (observer mission) and the ECK have evidence ... some doubt remains as to the accuracy of the result of the presidential election as announced today."
Mr. Odinga had earlier alleged that "doctoring" was taking place at the ECK centre itself. ODM officials were locked in a crisis meeting after the announcement and did not immediately comment.
Delays announcing official results have triggered furious protests and ethnic clashes across the east African nation.
Riots convulsed Kibera - one of Africa's biggest slums - after the announcement and residents said opposition supporters were burning houses and kiosks.
"There's a lot of heat over here. People are out in their thousands," Kibera resident Joshua Odutu said against a backdrop of gunshots, whistles and shouting.
Police reinforcements in riot gear had been deployed in large numbers as many Kenyans feared worse violence was to come.
The few supermarkets and food shops that opened were packed with nervous customers. Shelves of meat, milk, beer, bottled water and other provisions emptied fast.
Business leaders said this weekend's tribal clashes were costing more than $30 million a day in lost taxes - not to mention looting damage - and threatened investment in Kenya.
The country normally enjoys a reputation as a haven of relative calm in a volatile region of Africa.
One election observer who asked not to be named said they were "in very little doubt" there had been rigging.
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