Votes counted in key Kenyan election
We commend the Kenyan people, many of whom have patiently waited in long lines to vote, for their active and peaceful participation in the election and we urge all candidates and their supporters to maintain peace as the results are tabulated and announced. The election is widely viewed as a test of Kenya's democracy. It is the first presidential poll under a new constitution designed to prevent the ethnic violence that marred the previous poll.The voting got off to a bloody start Monday when a group of 200 separatists set a trap for police in the coastal city of Mombasa in the pre-dawn hours, Inspector General David Kimaiyo said. Four police were hacked to death with machetes, coast police boss Aggrey Adoli said,The country's top two presidential candidates condemned the Mombasa attacks. Prime Minister Raila Odinga called it a "heinous act of aggression" during a historic exercise. Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said he was discouraged by the news but he was sure the security situation would be brought under control. Reports from around the country suggested long queues of voters had formed even before polling stations opened - and some voters, such as those in Eldoret, were waiting up to 10 hours to cast their ballots.Six police officers died in pre-election violence, authorities reported. The big turnout and problems with electronic systems caused voting delays, officials said.
Peter Alingo of the Elections Observation Group said voting results would be sent from local counting centers to the national elections center in Nairobi on a mobile-phone system. Presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of helping to orchestrate the 2007 violence, said this year's election is about peace. Any issues that one may have, there is due process, there are the courts and everything else, which we should follow as opposed to inciting our supporters one way or the other," Kenyatta said. "Kenya will have a leader and that leader will be the leader of 40 million Kenyans,Kenyatta is an ethnic Kikuyu who is the son of Kenya's founding president. Odinga is an ethnic Luo whose father was the country's first vice president. Polls show the two in a close race, with support for each in the mid-40-percent range.
We commend the Kenyan people, many of whom have patiently waited in long lines to vote, for their active and peaceful participation in the election and we urge all candidates and their supporters to maintain peace as the results are tabulated and announced. The election is widely viewed as a test of Kenya's democracy. It is the first presidential poll under a new constitution designed to prevent the ethnic violence that marred the previous poll.The voting got off to a bloody start Monday when a group of 200 separatists set a trap for police in the coastal city of Mombasa in the pre-dawn hours, Inspector General David Kimaiyo said. Four police were hacked to death with machetes, coast police boss Aggrey Adoli said,The country's top two presidential candidates condemned the Mombasa attacks. Prime Minister Raila Odinga called it a "heinous act of aggression" during a historic exercise. Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said he was discouraged by the news but he was sure the security situation would be brought under control. Reports from around the country suggested long queues of voters had formed even before polling stations opened - and some voters, such as those in Eldoret, were waiting up to 10 hours to cast their ballots.Six police officers died in pre-election violence, authorities reported. The big turnout and problems with electronic systems caused voting delays, officials said.
Peter Alingo of the Elections Observation Group said voting results would be sent from local counting centers to the national elections center in Nairobi on a mobile-phone system. Presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of helping to orchestrate the 2007 violence, said this year's election is about peace. Any issues that one may have, there is due process, there are the courts and everything else, which we should follow as opposed to inciting our supporters one way or the other," Kenyatta said. "Kenya will have a leader and that leader will be the leader of 40 million Kenyans,Kenyatta is an ethnic Kikuyu who is the son of Kenya's founding president. Odinga is an ethnic Luo whose father was the country's first vice president. Polls show the two in a close race, with support for each in the mid-40-percent range.
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