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Agence France-Presse

Kenya’s opposition leader rejected preliminary results from a tightly-contested presidential election on Wednesday, decrying the tallying process as a “sham” as President Uhuru Kenyatta surged ahead.
The allegation by Kenyatta’s long-time rival Raila Odinga raised fears of a possibly violent dispute over the results of Tuesday’s election to decide the leader of east Africa’s most vibrant democracy.
“These results are fake, it is a sham. They cannot be credible,” Odinga told a press conference in the early hours of the morning as partial results fell quickly via an electronic tallying system aimed at preventing fraud.
Results released by the electoral commission (IEBC) showed Kenyatta leading with 55 per cent of the nearly 13 million ballots counted against Odinga’s 44 per cent, a difference of nearly 1.4 million votes.
Odinga claimed the IEBC had not provided documents that would show how the tallies were arrived at.
“It is the machine that has voted,” Odinga said.
“These results are wrong.”
Watch: vote counting begins in Kenya


Odinga, 72, who is making his fourth stab at the presidency, accused his rivals of stealing victory from him through rigging both in 2007 and 2013.
In 2007, the disputed vote resulted in two months of ethnically-driven political violence that killed 1,100 people and displaced 600,000 in a major blow to a nation seen as a regional bastion of stability.
The contested election in 2013 was taken to the courts, and ended largely peacefully even though Odinga lost.
The run-up to this year’s vote was fraught with tension, heightened by the torture and murder of Chris Msando, a key administrator of the biometric voting system, whose tortured and strangled body was found on the outskirts of Nairobi earlier this month.

“We fear that this is the precise reason why Mr Chris Msando was assassinated,” Odinga said, referring to his fraud claims.
The IEBC was undeterred by Odinga’s statements, with commissioner Roslyn Akombe saying that despite a request by an unnamed political party to stop publishing preliminary results, “as a commission we decided that as part of the commitment we made to the voters and the Kenyan people, transparency and accountability are part of them.”
“This is why, as a commission, we have decided we will continue to display the results,” she said.
The contest between Odinga and Kenyatta was seen by pollsters as too close to call ahead of the vote.
It is the second time the two men have faced off in a presidential election in dynastic rivalry that has lasted more than half a century since their fathers Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Odinga went from allies in the struggle for independence to bitter rivals.

The men belong to two of Kenya’s main ethnic groups, Kenyatta from the Kikuyu, the largest, and Odinga from the Luo.
Both had secured formidable alliances with other influential communities in Kenya, where voting takes place largely along tribal lines.
Raphael Tunju, secretary general of Kenyatta’s Jubilee party, shrugged off Odinga’s allegations.
“I don’t expect anything else from NASA,” he said, referring to Odinga’s National Super Alliance party.
On Tuesday, Kenyatta urged Odinga to accept the result should he lose.
“I also want to say that if I lose, I will accept the will of the people,” Kenyatta said after voting.
Despite reports of some technical glitches and delays, Tuesday’s vote went off peacefully, and the IEBC moved quickly to deal with any complaints.

A clerk in a polling station where ballot papers were pre-marked as “rejected” was fired, and police arrested another clerk in the port city Mombasa who was caught issuing double ballot papers to certain voters.
Soon before polls closed, NASA put out a statement praising poll officials and security forces, but complained that some of its voters had been turned away.
NASA also said it had reports of “pre-marked ballot papers” and attempts to bribe voters.
Kenyans voted in six different elections, including several knife-edge races for governor that have fired up local tensions.
The opposition also looked set to lose the governorship of the capital Nairobi – which had been seen as a major coup in 2013 – to the ruling party candidate.
Kenyatta, 55, is seeking re-election after a first term in which he oversaw a massive infrastructure drive and steady economic growth of more than five per cent.
But he has been criticised for soaring food prices – with prices jumping 20 per cent year on year in May – and massive corruption scandals on his watch.


Kenya opposition decries ‘sham’ poll results as President Kenyatta surges ahead in tense election

The election is the culmination of a hard-fought contest between the heads of Kenya’s two political dynasties

Voting officals count ballots on August 8, 2017 at the Victoria primary school polling station in Kisumu. Victoria primary school is one of the biggest polling stations in Kisumu. Kenyans today went to the polls in a general election in which a tight race is predicted between the incumbant President, Uhuru Kenyatta, and the opposition candidate, Raila Odinga. / AFP PHOTO / FREDRIK LERNERYD

Kenyan Opposition leader Raila Odinga drives passing his supporters after casting his vote in Kibera slums in Nairobi,Kenya, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. Kenyans are going to the polls to vote in a general election after a tightly fought presidential race between incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta and main opposition leader Raila Odinga. (AP Photo/ Noor Khamis)

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, center, shakes hands with supporters, accompanied by his wife Margaret, center-left, after casting his vote in Gatundu, north of Nairobi, in Kenya Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. Kenyans are going to the polls to vote in a general election after a tightly-fought presidential race between incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta and main opposition leader Raila Odinga. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

An election official from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) holds a presidential candidates ballot marked for President Uhuru Kenyatta. Photo: Reuters

‘They called me a traitor and a prostitute’: female candidates in Kenyan elections face uphill battle

Kenyan lawmaker Sarah Korere talks to supporters during an election campaign rally in the village of Dol Dol in Laikipia County. Photo: Reuters

Kenyan lawmaker Sarah Korere (R) greets a supporter during an election campaign rally in the village of Dol Dol in Laikipia County, Kenya, July 25, 2017. Picture taken July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

The Lunatic Express: how Kenya’s colonial railway compares to new China-built line

The Victorian-era Nairobi-to-Mombasa line offered a chance to see Kenya at a leisurely, if unreliable, pace

The “lunatic line” heads into Nairobi, Kenya. Picture: AFP

BFN0TB Kenya, Mombasa. Historic Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese in 1593, is situated at the entrance to the old dhow harbour. [06AUGUST17 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / ALAMY

Local villagers prepare to board the train, in a village, on the "Lunatic Line", Kenya on December 07, 2016. [06AUGUST17 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / Thomas Bird

FFE4PR AFRICA: RAILWAY, c1900. /nEast Indian laborers sit on the fender of a locomotive crossing a temporary viaduct on the Uganda Railway, under construction in British East Africa, from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean to the interior of Kenya and Uganda, c1900. [06AUGUST17 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / ALAMY

BFN0T5 Kenya, Mombasa. The water front of the old dhow harbour in Mombasa with modern high rise buildings in the background. [06AUGUST17 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / ALAMY

Train seating plan sign for Kenyan Railways, Mombasa, Kenya on December 07, 2016. [06AUG17 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / Thomas Bird

FF8X3J KENYA-UGANDA RAILWAY, 1901. /nFlorence Preston driving the last peg of the Uganda Railway at Port Florence, Kisumu, in the East Africa Protectorate (present-day Kenya), 1901. [06AUGUST17 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / ALAMY

A cow eats grass, infant of a tin shed with graffiti "Jesus Arising Ministries" train, in a village, on the "Lunatic Line", Kenya on November 25, 2016. [06AUGUST17 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / Thomas Bird

Chinese porcelain, donated by various people, is displayed at Fort Jesus' museum, on December 07, 2016. Items include (top L-R) Small Jug Ming style design, blue on white teapot, (lower L-R) Bottle of fine polished earthenware, probably 18th century Portuguese-ware, Glazed earthenware vase, Chinese ginger jar, 18th century Chinese plate, large bowl. [06AUGUST17 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / Thomas Bird

The station master's office, Nairobi, Kenya on December 08, 2016. [06AUGUST17 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / Thomas Bird

A cargo train sets off on its inaugural journey from Mombasa to Nairobi on the new Chinese-built line. Picture: AFP

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The election is the culmination of a hard-fought contest between the heads of Kenya’s two political dynasties


Kenya opposition decries ‘sham’ poll results as President Kenyatta surges ahead in tense election

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The election is the culmination of a hard-fought contest between the heads of Kenya’s two political dynasties

The election is the culmination of a hard-fought contest between the heads of Kenya’s two political dynasties