Kenyatta triumphs by tiny margin in presidential vote

Sunday 10 March 2013

UHURU Kenyatta, indicted for crimes against humanity, was declared winner of Kenya's presidential election yesterday with a tiny margin, just enough to avoid a run-off after a race that has divided the nation along tribal lines.

Supporters of Uhuru Kenyatta celebrate yesterday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, ahead of the official announcement of his win Photograph: Jerome Delay/PA

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Victory of deputy prime minister, indicted for crimes against humanity, may prove problematic for Western donors By Richard Lough in Nairobi

Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's founding president, faces trial after the disputed 2007 presidential vote that unleashed a wave of tribal bloodshed.

With the 51-year-old in the top job, Kenya will become the second African country after Sudan to have a sitting president indicted by the International Criminal Court.

The United States and other Western powers, big donors to the east African nation, said before the vote that a Kenyatta win would complicate diplomatic ties with a nation viewed as a vital ally in the regional battle against militant Islam.After saying that Kenyatta had secured 50.07% of the votes, just more than the 50% needed to avoid a second round, the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Issack Hassan, announced: "I therefore declare Uhuru Kenyatta the duly elected president of the Republic of Kenya." Shortly afterwards, he handed a certificate of the results to Kenyatta, who had arrived after the declaration. Kenyatta thanked him.Many people in the election centre cheered, although celebrations had started in the early hours of yesterday after provisional results showed Kenyatta's victory. Supporters thronged the streets of Nairobi and his tribal strongholds, lighting flares and waving tree branches and chanting "Uhuru, Uhuru".The mood was tense but calm in the heartlands of Kenyatta's rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who also lost in the disputed 2007 vote and trailed this time with 43.3%."No Raila, no peace," Odinga supporters chanted as security forces stood by in Kisumu, a city where violence flared in 2007.Speaking ahead of the formal declaration, a close adviser to Odinga said his candidate would challenge the result if Kenyatta was declared winner."He is not conceding the election," Salim Lone told reporters, speaking on behalf of Odinga. "If Uhuru Kenyatta is announced president-elect then he will move to the courts immediately."Odinga's camp had said during tallying that the ballot count was deeply flawed and had called for it to be halted. However, they promised to pursue any disputes in the courts not the streets.The election commission, plagued by technical problems that slowed the count, took five days to announce the result.International observers broadly said the vote and count had been transparent so far and the electoral commission, which replaced an old, discredited body, promised a credible vote.Kenyatta, the country's deputy prime minister, achieved the 50% mark by a tiny margin of about 8400 votes out of more than 12.3 million cast.Both sides relied heavily on their ethnic groups in a nation where tribal loyalties mostly trump ideology at the ballot box. Kenyatta is a Kikuyu, the biggest of Kenya's many tribes, Odinga is a Luo. Both had running mates from other tribes.Kenyans had hoped the vote, which has so far passed off with only pockets of unrest on voting day, would restore their nation's reputation as one of Africa's most stable democracies after killings last time left more than 1200 dead.■kenya

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Kenyatta triumphs by tiny margin in presidential vote

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