Raila Odinga claims victory in cliffhanger elections

[Suldaanka]

Kenyan Opposition Party Declares Odinga Victor in Presidential Vote

By VOA News

29 December 2007

 

 

 

Kenya's main opposition party has declared victory in the country's presidential election, despite continued delays in announcing official returns.

 

 

Raila Odinga casts his vote in Kibera, Nairobi, 27 Dec 2007 Musalia Mudavadi of the Orange Democratic Movement says Raila Odinga is Kenya's president-elect based on the party's own vote tally. Mudavadi is Mr. Odinga's vice-presidential running mate.

 

Partial official results released Saturday show Mr. Odinga with 3.7 million votes, compared to 3.4 million for incumbent President Mwai Kibaki.

 

The vote count was expected to be completed by Friday. Electoral officials say the delays are caused by high voter turnout and minor logistical problems.

 

Anger about the plodding official vote count has led to rioting in parts of Kenya. Demonstrators have stoned cars and set fires in the western city of Kisumu - a stronghold of Mr. Odinga. Fighting has also broken out between rival ethnic gangs in Kibera, a sprawling slum in the capital, Nairobi.

 

Mr. Odinga has repeatedly accused Mr. Kibaki of planning to rig the election - allegations the president has denied.

 

International observers say Thursday's voting was largely peaceful and free of election fraud.

 

About 14 million Kenyans were eligible to vote in the elections. To win, a presidential candidate must receive a majority of votes and at least 25 percent in five of Kenya's eight provinces. The rule was adopted in 1992 to ensure the president has broad support in a country often divided by tribal issues.

 

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

[N.O.R.F]

Lets hope it s true IA.

[Emperor]

^No, I think Mwai Kibaki was good for the Somali peepz living in Kenya...

 

Any official results of the election...

[Separatist]

^¨ Both PNU and ODM declared victory. According to The Nation Group Raila is leading by 0.5%. Though the government's website claims Kibaki to have won by 6000 votes.

[AfricaOwn]

I hope Raila pulls through

[Separatist]

No matter the pres. outcome, we should be happy that ministers like Raphael Tuju, who masterminded the rendition of Kenyan-Somalis to Ethiopia, is voted out. Glad to see the old guards (of KANU, now most in PNU) careers been massacred.

 

James Orengo and Farah Maalim, the lions of Kenyan politics in the early/late ninetees , did clinch back their Ugenya and Lagdera seats respectively. Kudos to them. Na hiyo ni maendeleo!

[Paragon]

^^Hello bro, good seeing you again.

 

Na hiyo ni maendeleo!

Lool.

 

Are you sure Farah Moalim is back in Laghdera seat? If that is true then its good news.

 

I hear big shots such as Moodi Awori have been kicked to the curb, and that half the cabinet has been ousted...that is some news.

 

I hope things wont flare up more than they did. The stakes are high indeed.

[Separatist]

^^^preliminary result favor Farah. He led in all locations except Dertu which didn't submit its result as of last night. But Dertu is his stronghold. So no worry the seat is in box as they say in the North pole.

 

Yep.. stakes are high indeed. The jaluos have already set ablaze several Kikuyu properties in Kisumu area and barricaded all highways.

 

Kenya's 07 election is historical in many ways. It showed a significant shift of politics in the Muslim dominated provinces. This is the first time in the history of the Somali voters ( From N.E.P.) and Coast voters were politically conscious as they didn't emerge as one political block as they did in Moi era.

 

Ps. Long time bro, hope you doing well.

[Paragon]

I see. I hope the good news of Farah's re-election becomes true to the word. We need folks like him back in parliament to represent both NEP and Coast province.

 

According to news from a Kikuyu friend of mine in London, reliable sources say that all the heads of the army, navy, police, civil servants and attorney general have been summoned to the state-house.

 

Rumour has it that the presidential elections results will be announced within the hour, and that the summoning of these officials is planned to minimize anticipated violence by Jaluos, once Kibaki is announced as the winner!

 

As things stand, the situation is combustible, my brother.

[Separatist]

Doubtlessly Kibaki will come out as the winner. Typical of Kenya/Africa politics. A sitting president rarely loses a re-election. No matter who wins, I hope things cool down. I hardly believe Kenyans would resort to violence as the immediate solution incase of an obvious rigging. They are smarter than that.

[Somaliwayn1]

so who won? i don't like Kibaki Well once the amxaaro leaves (we don't mind welcoming the qaxooti from Kenya .( thinking opeing his own NGO)

[Paragon]

^^Bloody hell, why?

 

Shar ma'arke, I think that expection is a given one. Although I grant that Kenyans are very smart (moreover civil), I am not very sure how cautious the Luos would be in this case. I think that they actually expected a certain win, and thus their refusal of results might enflame them to react irresponsibly. A situation that would prove counter-productive.

 

PS: To be on the safe side, I think in Somalida nairobi la isaga baxdo in the meantime and go to Garissa or Mombasa.

[Paragon]

Kenya election foes neck-and-neck, riots flare

Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:57pm GMT

(Recasts with latest results, scuffles)

 

By Katie Nguyen and Wangui Kanina

 

NAIROBI, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Kenya's presidential rivals were neck-and-neck on Saturday with nearly 90 percent of official results counted as accusations of rigging ignited ethnic violence across the east African nation.

 

Chaos reigned as the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) announced latest results showing opposition challenger Raila Odinga leading President Mwai Kibaki by just 38,000 votes on a tally of 180 of a total 210 constituencies.

 

But the ECK head was interrupted after reading tallies from seven other constituencies that would have put Kibaki in the lead by about four times as big a margin.

 

Scuffles broke out and police moved in after an opposition politician heckled ECK Chairman Samuel Kivuitu and repeatedly demanded a recount in one constituency.

 

"Nobody can push me, not even you!" Kivuitu told scores of party agents, politicians and journalists packed into a Nairobi conference centre ringed by armed guards.

 

The ECK gave Odinga 3.88 million votes to 3.84 million for the president from the 180 constituency results.

 

Delays announcing official results fuelled tensions across the nation, with political parties trading rigging accusations and riots erupting in most major cities.

 

Both Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) had earlier claimed victory and the leadership of the region's biggest economy for the next five years, citing their own agents' reports.

 

Meanwhile, youths from rival tribes fought, looted and burned homes, mostly in opposition strongholds. Police fired teargas and several people died in scenes marring what foreign observers had praised as broadly peaceful polls on Thursday.

 

If Odinga -- a wealthy businessman who paints himself as a champion of the poor -- fulfils a long-held ambition to lead Kenya, Kibaki would become the first of the country's three post-independence leaders to be ejected by the ballot box.

 

 

RIGGING CLAIMS

 

The opposition led early tallies, but as Kibaki narrowed the gap overnight, Odinga's party said it feared fraud.

 

From Kisumu in the west to Mombasa on the coast and many towns in between, trouble broke out on Saturday pitting Odinga's Luo supporters against members of Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group.

 

The tribes, two of Kenya's biggest, have a long history of rivalry during the country's four decades of independence.

 

"We are sensing a plan to rig the elections," taxi cyclist Eric Ochieng, 18, told Reuters in the middle of riots in Kisumu city, in Odinga's homeland. "We will not accept this."

 

Residents said one person was killed in Kisumu -- a normally sleepy city by Lake Victoria -- as hundreds of youths took to the streets, burning tyres, ransacking shops and blocking roads.

 

"The government has failed to declare Odinga the winner," said 11-year-old Kennedy Ochieng, stumbling under the weight of a box of clothes, mobile phone chargers and other stolen goods.

 

"They stole our votes so we are looting everything we can."

 

As black smoke billowed overhead, one crowd waved machetes and yelled "Death to Kikuyus". Young boys swigged looted beer.

 

"We have just started. We will loot all Kikuyu shops and kill them on sight," said Richard Ondigi, 23, a driver.

 

Locals said two people were killed in another hotbed of support for Odinga, Nairobi's huge Kibera shantytown, where shots were fired and dozens of shacks burned to the ground.

 

Groups of youths protested elsewhere in Nairobi and city centre streets were near deserted as business owners pulled down their shutters. Truckloads of military police patrolled.

 

If Odinga does seal victory, he will realise a dream that eluded his late father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a nationalist hero who became vice-president. Kibaki says he will double economic growth for Kenyans if he is re-elected.

 

The inauguration of Kenya's next president will take place in days. If it is Odinga, his priority will be to enlist support of the economically powerful Kikuyus, ensure a peaceful handover and allay business fears that he is a left-wing radical.

 

Kibaki would have a tough time appeasing the opposition if he returns to State House.

 

The ECK forecast record turnout figures for what became Kenya's tightest race since British colonial rule ended in 1963. (Additional reporting by Guled Mohamed in Kisumu; Noor Khamis, Tim Cocks, Bryson Hull, George Obulutsa, Joseph Sudah, Duncan Miriri, Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Nicolo Gnecchi in Nairobi; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

 

 

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[Somaliguy]

was just reading that the Luos r killing the Kikuyus- another rwanda ethnic cleansing?

[Separatist]

J11, seems your Kikuyu freind's statement is turning to be true. There goes rumours that ECK and PNU secretly plan to declare Kibaki winner tommorow morning, letting Gicheru to immmediately swear him in at state house, not even at Uhuru Park as the norm used to be.

 

Ps. Mark that votes from Kamukunji, a Raila stonghold, are already cancelled. Kamunkunji is among the remaining 19 consituencies. Most of them are ODM strongholds like Kibwezi, South Turkana, North turkana, Mandera central, Garsen, Kisauni, Starehe, Baringo (Considering that Odinga has won 70% of Rift Valley province votes) etc.

 

Crossing fingers for Mr. Odinga.