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Kenyatta holds lead in Kenya

March 6, 2013

Kenyan authorities say they hope to declare the final outcome of the country's presidential election on Wednesday. Tallies show Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces a trial in The Hague over past electoral violence, in the lead.

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Kenya's Deputy Prime Minister and presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta smiles as he casts his vote at the Mutomo primary school in Kiambu, north of Nairobi (Photo: SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta has kept an early lead since polls closed on Monday, but results have yet to be declared in some strongholds of his opponent, Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Kenyatta and running mate William Ruto are wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of unleashing death squads after Kenya's 2007 election.

Kenya's election commission chairman had said on Tuesday that despite early glitches such as spoiled ballots the final count would accurately reflect the vote, but it also would not come immediately.

Kenyatta takes early lead

"We therefore continue to appeal for patience from the public," Ahmed Issack Hassan said. "Nobody should celebrate, nobody should complain."

About 1,200 people were killed in ethnic violence following Kenya's 2007 election, when the current outgoing president, Mwai Kibaki, was declared victor over Odinga amid fraud allegations.

During Monday's vote, at least a dozen people were killed in a pair of secessionist attacks on police in the Mombasa area, but there has so far been no repeat of the widespread violence seen in 2007.

Officials estimated the turnout for Monday's election at 70 percent of the country's 14 million registered voters. If no candidate wins at least 50 percent of the presidential vote, the two top finishers will face each other in a runoff election, to be held on April 11.

mkg/ipj (AFP, AP)