See the chaotic scenes as Kenya elects new president
Sokoto state election officials take time to count votes as they arrive to their counting areas, at Kikoi polling station in Kakuma West county, southwest of Nairobi April 22, 2013. Two hours before polls closed on Kenya’s first and contested presidential election since independence in 1963, supporters of the opposition candidates gathered outside the two main strongholds of the United Party for National Development (UPND) party. In one of the areas, the area is dominated mainly by the Kikuyus, who are the biggest ethnic group in the country, but supporters of opposition candidate Raila Odinga were also in the crowd. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (KENYA – Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS)
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses supporters during a campaign rally at the Muthaiga Stadium in Mombasa April 20, 2013. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed his loyal supporters during a campaign rally on Sunday (April 20) in the capital, Mombasa, during which he assured them that the country’s next election will be free, fair and transparent.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Reuters/James Amandi
Kenyatta, who faces competition from Raila Odinga for a second term, told his supporters that his success in the first election was a lesson that the country should not learn the hard way in the 2013 election, where he has been repeatedly denied the outright majority his election team has said he has won.
“We’re going to win the election and we are going to win the country in the election,” he told his supporters.
However, analysts warn that there will not be the level of participation in the country that many of them want in order to ensure strong results.
The ruling party and its allies have been counting their ballots in large numbers since the polls were opened on Wednesday, and counting has started earlier than during the first election in March.
The opposition has refused to concede defeat even in their strongholds in areas with the most robust electoral support. In the first round on March 26, electoral officials said that there were 10,764