Kenyans Riot as Vote Count Drags On

By Nicholas Soi and Robyn Dixon
The Los Angeles Times

Saturday 29 December 2007

Nairobi, Kenya - Ethnic riots exploded across Kenya today as the official vote count in the country's presidential election dragged on, prompting new accusations of fraud.

Opposition supporters, mainly from the Luo tribe, waved machetes, looted businesses and set fire to shops and houses belonging to Kikuyus, the tribe associated with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.

Kiosks along the road were burning in the Kibera slum area, stronghold of the opposition presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, as furious crowds of young men rioted and chanted anti-Kikuyu slogans.

With no official result, the opposition Orange Democratic Movement declared its leader, Raila Odinga, the winner and called on Kibaki to concede defeat in order to halt the violence in many areas.

"In view of the growing anxiety and restlessness in the country over the extended delay ... we now call upon the outgoing president to acknowledge and respect the will of the Kenyan people and concede defeat," said Musalia Mudavadi, the ODM candidate for vice president.

Tensions rose when Kibaki began to gain on Odinga's lead as Friday's count dragged on, fueling opposition suspicions that the vote was being rigged.

If Kibaki loses, it will be the first time an incumbent president has been voted out in Kenya, and one of only a few cases in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tempers flared at the Electoral Commission of Kenya briefings as party agents demanded to know why the count was taking so long. The fact local TV stations were releasing figures much faster than the commission fueled the anger.

Both Kibaki's Party of National Unity and the ODM called on the commission to speed its count, panel chief Samuel Kivuitu said. When officials called outlying provinces to find out when figures would be available, no one answered the phones.

The latest official figures had Odinga ahead with 3.73 million votes, or 49%, and Kibaki with 3.42 million votes, or 45%, and 159 of the 210 constituencies counted.

There was no indication when a final tally would be available.

Fourteen million in this nation of 37 million were eligible to vote. The turnout was reported at 70%, the highest since the reintroduction of multiparty elections 15 years ago.

The results of parliamentary elections, also run Thursday, were known, with 16 ministers in Kibaki's Cabinet losing their seats.

The opposition, which was narrowly ahead in opinion polls going into the election, accused the government on election eve of planning to rig the voting, but Kibaki strongly denied the claims.

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