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            Vote Counting Continues in Kenyan Presidential Election

   by VOA News

   Kenyan election officials continue to count ballots from Monday's
   presidential vote, with provisional results so far showing Uhuru
   Kenyatta in the lead.
   Fewer than half of polling stations had reported when the count resumed
   Wednesday after a break overnight.
   Those results put Kenyatta ahead of his chief rival, Prime Minister
   Raila Odinga, by a 53-42 percent margin.
   Election officials say that nearly 330,000 ballots have been rejected
   so far for not following voter rules.  With the winning candidate
   required to secure more than 50 percent of all votes cast, some
   analysts are predicting that Kenyatta will fall short of the threshold
   and face a runoff election in April.
   ''
   International observers have said the vote was generally calm.
   John Stremlau of the U.S.-based Carter Center, says the group will
   release its preliminary report Wednesday, praising voters and Kenya's
   electoral body for a "peaceful" and "very vibrant" election.
   "Let's hope that the results, when they become known, will lead to the
   winner showing  generosity to the defeated and the defeated accepting
   with magnanimity the loss," said Stremlau. "Because I think all Kenyans
   want to move on and have this become the prosperous, stable country
   that it's always assumed to be."
   [1]Related - Voting Monitors Say Kenya Showed Maturity in Balloting
   Kenyatta, son of Kenya's first president and one of Africa's wealthiest
   men, faces trial in the International Criminal Court for allegedly
   bankrolling death squads that carried out reprisal attacks against
   opposition supporters after disputed 2007 polls.
   More than 1,000 people were killed in the violence while hundreds of
   thousands of others were forced to flee their homes.
   Odinga's campaign manager told VOA Tuesday the prime minister will
   catch up once more votes are counted from Odinga strongholds.
   About 14 million Kenyans were eligible to vote in the elections for
   president, parliament and other key offices.  Both Odinga and Kenyatta
   have promised to respect the result of the vote.
   Monday's election was mostly peaceful, although just hours before
   voting began, at least 13 people, including seven police officers, were
   killed along Kenya's coast.  Kenyan police arraigned three suspects in
   court Tuesday.
   Election chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan said there were no reported
   incidents of violence during voting hours.  He also said voter turnout
   appears to have been above 70 percent.
   The U.S. State Department condemned what it called "isolated incidences
   of violence" in Kenya.
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   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/vote-counting-continues-in-kenya/1616
   069.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/voting-monitors-say-kenya-showed-maturity-in-balloting/1615884.html
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/vote-counting-continues-in-kenya/1616069.html