Kenya president, Kenyatta re-elected, opposition rejects result

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has secured a second term in office, the election commission announced on Friday, a result rejected by the opposition who said the process was undermined by fraud, setting off wild street celebrations by his supporters and protests in opposition strongholds in the capital and the west of the country.

According to figures released by election commission head Wafula Chebukati, Kenyatta got 54.3 percent of Tuesday’s vote, ahead of rival Raila Odinga who secured 44.7 percent. Also nearly 80 percent of the 19 million registered voters cast their ballots.

Many Kenyans fear a repeat of the violence that followed the 2007 contested election, when about 1,200 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced as protests over the result led to ethnic killings.

Speaking after the result was announced, Kenyatta offered an olive branch to the opposition, urging national unity and peace.

I reach out to you, I reach out to all your supporters, Kenyatta said in comments directed at Odinga.

Earlier on Friday, the opposition, led by Odinga, who has lost the last two elections amid complaints of fraud, said it rejected the process after its complaints had not been addressed.

We raised some very serious concerns, they have not responded to them. As NASA (opposition coalition) we shall not be party to the process they are about to make, senior opposition official Musalia Mudavadi told reporters.

As well as a new president, Kenyans also elected new lawmakers and local representatives of which some of those races have also been disputed, leading to violence in Garissa and Tana River counties.