Vote Counting Continues in Kenyan Presidential Election

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."

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.