{"id":343347,"date":"2017-08-09T06:26:01","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T06:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=343347"},"modified":"2017-08-09T06:26:01","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T06:26:01","slug":"kenyatta-takes-lead-in-kenya-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=343347","title":{"rendered":"Kenyatta takes lead in Kenya election"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kenya’s incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken a strong lead as votes are counted after Tuesday’s election.<\/p>\n

With 80% of results in he has 55% of the vote against 44% for his rival, Raila Odinga, figures show.<\/p>\n

However, the opposition coalition has rejected the partial results, saying election officials have not produced documents to prove their validity.<\/p>\n

“They are fictitious, they are fake,” said Mr Odinga.<\/p>\n

“We have our projections from our agents which show we are ahead by far,” he added.<\/p>\n

The electoral commission is urging people to wait calmly for full results.<\/p>\n

Many fear a repeat of the violence that followed the disputed 2007 election when more than 1,100 Kenyans died and 600,000 were displaced.<\/p>\n

“During this critical phase, we urge all Kenyans to exercise restraint as we await official results from the polling stations and indeed as they start trickling in,” the commission said.<\/p>\n

\"Queue<\/span><\/figure>\n

Voting passed off largely peacefully and some polling stations remained open after the scheduled 17:00 (14:00 GMT) closing time.<\/p>\n

Mr Kenyatta is hoping for a second term in office.<\/p>\n

To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote, and at least 25% in 24 of Kenya’s 47 counties. If that threshold is not met, a run-off vote between the top two candidates will be triggered.<\/p>\n

Voting for the national and local assemblies has also been taking place.<\/p>\n

Scenes from the polling station<\/strong><\/p>\n

People started queuing early to ensure they could cast their vote. Long queues could be seen, and video footage at one polling station showed people injured after an apparent stampede.<\/p>\n

There was also the failure of some voter-identification equipment and one in four polling stations were apparently without mobile phone coverage meaning that officials would have to drive to the nearest town to send results.<\/p>\n

There were reports that one man had been killed in clashes in the Kilifi area.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Polling day as it happened<\/li>\n
  • Kenyatta: The digital president<\/li>\n
  • Odinga: Love him or loathe him<\/li>\n
  • Full elections coverage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    But there was one heartening moment when a woman gave birth to a baby girl as she queued in West Pokot to cast her ballot. New mother Pauline Chemanang called the circumstances of the birth a “blessing” and called her baby Kura, Swahili for “ballot”, according to local radio.<\/p>\n

    \"Electoral<\/span><\/figure>\n
    \"President<\/span><\/figure>\n
    \"Raila<\/span><\/figure>\n

    Casting his vote in his hometown of Gatundu, north of Nairobi, Mr Kenyatta said he would accept the outcome of the election.<\/p>\n

    “To my competitors, as I have always said, in the event that they lose, let us accept the will of the people. I am willing, myself, to accept the will of the people,” he said.<\/p>\n

    Opposition leader Mr Odinga cast his ballot in the Nairobi slum of Kibera.<\/p>\n

    Speaking outside the voting centre, he told his supporters: “Let’s turn out in large numbers and vote.”<\/p>\n

    By Alastair Leithead, BBC News, Mathare<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The queues were long and the voters impatient. Many arrived in the middle of the night to cast their ballots early and the electronic system is taking quite a while to verify voters.<\/p>\n

    If fingerprints don’t register, ID card numbers have to be typed in to the electronic tablets and then there’s a manual backup.<\/p>\n

    The responsibility lies with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to deliver a free and fair election.<\/p>\n

    The test will come when the polls close, the votes are counted and the results have to be transmitted to the tallying centres.<\/p>\n

    The presidential race is expected to be close.<\/p>\n

    Mr Odinga, 72, has run for president three times and lost each time. President Kenyatta, the 55-year-old son of Kenya’s founding president, beat him in the last election in 2013, but their rivalry is generations old – their fathers were political opponents in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

    Mr Kenyatta and his running-mate William Ruto were indicted by the International Criminal Court for their alleged roles in the bloodshed a decade ago. The case ultimately\u00a0collapsed due to lack of evidence, and after key witnesses died or disappeared.<\/p>\n

    Kenya’s election in numbers:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Six separate ballot papers<\/strong>: For president, national assembly, female representatives, governors, senate and county assemblies<\/li>\n
    • 47 parliamentary seats<\/strong>\u00a0and 16 senate seats reserved for women<\/li>\n
    • Eight presidential candidates<\/strong>: President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga are favourites<\/li>\n
    • Kenyatta beat Odinga in 2013 – their fathers were also political rivals in the 1960s<\/li>\n
    • A candidate needs\u00a050% plus one\u00a0<\/strong>vote for first-round victory<\/li>\n
    • More than\u00a014,000 candidates\u00a0<\/strong>running across the six elections<\/li>\n
    • More than\u00a045% of registered voters under 35<\/strong><\/li>\n
    • Some\u00a0180,000 security officers<\/strong>\u00a0on duty nationwide in case of trouble<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Chief EU observer Marietje Schaake said much would depend on the faith people hold in the new electronic voting system.<\/p>\n

      Before election day,\u00a0a top election official\u00a0was murdered, there were claims of vote-rigging and hate speech flyers and rhetorical text messages began circulating.<\/p>\n

      Some nervous\u00a0Kenyans stockpiled food and water, while police prepared emergency first aid kits in the event of violence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      –<\/p>\n

      Source: BBC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Kenya’s incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken a strong lead as votes are counted after Tuesday’s election. With 80% of results in he has 55% of the vote against 44% for his rival, Raila Odinga, figures show. However, the opposition coalition has rejected the partial results, saying election officials have not produced documents to prove […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,11],"tags":[901,3,592],"class_list":["post-343347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","category-top-stories","tag-election","tag-ghana-news","tag-kenya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=343347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=343347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=343347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=343347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}