Country on edge as final results due in disputed poll

Residents read a newspaper as they stand at a roadside stall in Kisumu on August 10, 2017, while awaiting official results of the Kenyan general election. PHOTO | JENNIFER HUXTA | AFP

The electoral commission is preparing to release final results Friday from a hotly-contested vote in which the opposition has already claimed victory, fanning tensions in the east African nation.

The National Super Alliance (Nasa) opposition coalition on Thursday demanded that its candidate Raila Odinga be declared president, claiming massive fraud was behind preliminary results that place him far behind incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta.

Supporters of Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga hold a campaign poster as they take to the streets in Kisumu's Kondele estate on August 10, 2017 to protest preliminary election results. PHOTO | KEVIN MIDIGO | AFP

Foreign observers praised a peaceful, credible voting process on Tuesday, but the mood quickly turned sour with Mr Odinga rejecting results after only a few hours of counting.

Mr Odinga first complained the electronically transmitted results were not being backed up by the required forms and then hours later he unveiled details of an alleged hacking attack to manipulate results.

Nasa then doubled down with a claim the poll agency (IEBC) was concealing true results contained on its server that showed Odinga to be the winner.

People turned out in their numbers to cast their ballots on August 8, 2017, including this man who blacked out  near a polling station in Kibera. PHOTO | EMMA NZIOKA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

"We demand that the IEBC chairperson announce the presidential election results forthwith and declare Raila Amolo Odinga... as the duly elected president," said one of Nasa's leaders, Musalia Mudavadi.

The charge ratcheted up tensions that have seen Kenya on a go-slow since voting day, with many businesses shut, civil servants staying at home and streets largely empty.

Protests have remained isolated to Mr Odinga's strongholds in Nairobi slums — where police shot dead two protesters Wednesday — and the western city of Kisumu.

People disputing preliminary presidential results protest in Mathare on August 9, 2017. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

But memories are still fresh of a disputed poll in 2007 that led to two months of ethno-political violence, leaving 1,100 dead and displacing 600,000.

While veteran opposition leader Odinga, 72, also claimed 2013 polls were stolen from him, he took his grievances to the courts and ended up accepting his loss.

"We do not want to see any violence in Kenya. We know the consequences of what happened in 2008 and we don't want to see a repeat of that," Odinga told CNN in an interview.

Residents watch clashes between police and protestors in Mathare slum in Nairobi, on August 9, 2017, a day after general election. PHOTO | CARL DE SOUZA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

But he repeated his assertion that "I don't control anybody. People want to see justice."

Kenyatta looked set for certain victory, with 8 million votes to Odinga's 6.7 million, according to the IEBC public website whose results are being cross-checked against polling forms from constituencies.

However, Nasa provided documents purportedly obtained from IEBC servers via a "confidential source" showing that Odinga had 8.04 million votes, leading Kenyatta on 7.75 million.

IEBC chief Wafula Chebukati responded to the Nasa claims, detailing that their "evidence" was riddled with arithmetic errors and came from a Microsoft database, while the electoral commission's system was running on Oracle.

In the Kondele neighbourhood of the western city of Kisumu — where protests erupted on Wednesday — hundreds of Odinga supporters took to the streets, banging drums and blowing vuvuzelas after his party declared him the winner.

"We are happy," said 35-year-old Anthony Karaba, as a police helicopter hovered overhead.

"We need peace and we need the correct results."

The IEBC insists its electronic voting system — seen as key to avoiding fraud — was not compromised.

Britain and the US joined foreign observer missions in urging party leaders to be patient and refrain from inflaming tensions ahead of the release of final results.

Former US secretary of state John Kerry, leading an observer team from the Carter Center, expressed confidence in the IEBC.

"We believe the IEBC put in place a detailed, transparent process of voting, counting, reporting and securing the vote, all of which lends significant credibility and accountability," Kerry told journalists.

Before the election the race between Odinga and Kenyatta was seen as too close to call.

It was billed as the final showdown between the two men whose fathers Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Odinga were allies in the struggle for independence, but later became bitter rivals, setting the stage for decades of political rancour.

Kenyatta, 55, is seeking re-election after a first term in which he and his Jubilee Party were credited with a massive infrastructure drive and overseeing steady economic growth.

Odinga describes himself as a social democrat who wants to fight inequality.