Voting in Kenya’s six-piece elections closed Monday and results started streaming in almost immediately with Uhuru Kenyatta taking the lead after early vote count. PANA reports that results streaming into the National Tallying Centre at the Bomas of Kenya, showed Raila Odinga slightly tailing Kenyatta.
Kenyatta’s vote count stood at 57.55% against Odingas 38.09% of the early returns late Monday. Voting continued, however, in Nairobi and parts of the country that reported longer queues.
Results showing on giant screens at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) showed Kenyatta at 414,973 votes against Odinga’s 288,816.
The provisional results showed that the Presidential race vote spread across the nation were likely to be highly competitive.
Earlier, the IEBC Chairman, Isaack Hassan, said voting went on smoothly in most parts of the country, despite the failure by the poll book, an electronic voter register that was meant to stop any anomalies from the voting.
'The elections kicked off as planned. We note there are polling stations that opened late and we will ensure they are compensated for the lost time,” Hassan said.
Kenya’s Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, who voted at his home in Eastern Kenya, said the failure by the electronic voter register machines was a failure that should have been avoided.
“The taxpayer spent a lot of money to procure these equipment and they must be seen to work,” said Musyoka, who is Odinga’s running mate.
Earlier, the European Union (EU) chief Electoral Observer, Aloyz Peterle, said the poll centres opened on time. The voter turnout was very high. “This is a positive element which shows Kenyans are united. This also shows that Kenyans understand the importance of election and their democratic rights,” Peterle said.
The EU officials said despite the failure by the Biometric Voter registers, the IEBC appeared to have a plan to use a printed form of the register for all the county voters.
“It is important there is an alternative. Our reporters did not report any problems,” he added.
Pana 04/03/2013