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Odinga calls for recount of votes

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga called yesterday for the government to concede defeat or allow a recount of a presidential election, saying the government had lost "all legitimacy" because of fraud.

"If need be, he should resign," Odinga told a news conference. "We do not want to plunge this country into chaos."

Election officials announced that Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki had won the election as unrest simmered after a chaotic count marred by widespread ethnic violence and allegations of rigging.

Odinga, leader of the Orange Democratic Movement, questioned why his initial strong lead in Thursday's election counting had suddenly disappeared.

"We will not accept cooked figures ... This government has lost all legitimacy and cannot govern," he said.

In the western opposition stronghold of Kisumu, police fired in the air to disperse small groups of youths, witnesses said, as they tried to head off a second day of looting and arson there.

Several people were killed across the east African nation on Saturday in clashes that dented Kenya's reputation as an oasis of stability in a volatile region.

The final results released yesterday showing that Kibaki, 76, had won the poll infuriated supporters of Odinga, who led in earlier tallies and most pre-election opinion polls.

"The commission therefore declares Honourable Mwai Kibaki as the winner," ECK chairman Samuel Kivuitu told a small group of reporters at the election tally center.

Kivuitu, whose attempt to make the announcement in public was halted by scuffles and shouting minutes earlier, said Kibaki had 4,584,721 votes compared to 4,352,993 for Odinga.

Speculation among foreign diplomats and Kenyan media was rife that Kibaki might opt to be sworn in as early as yesterday afternoon, but State House denied that.

"We are in very little doubt there has been rigging," one election observer said on condition of anonymity. "If Kibaki wins, they will want to move quickly. They will want to be in government straightaway to deal with any violence."

Tension was palpable in the Nairobi conference center where a day before Odinga allies heckled the head of the electoral commission as he tried to read out figures giving Kibaki a lead of some 120,000 votes.

An earlier official tally gave Odinga a 38,000 vote lead.

"There is a massive question mark over the tally of votes," chief EU election observer Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said. "Our observers have been sent away from tallying centers without being given results. In Mombasa, none of the results were being displayed at the tallying centers."

He also said there was concern over voter turnout figures in some areas, including Kibaki's Central Province, where two polling stations recorded a 98 percent to 99 percent showing, and Odinga's Nyanza homeland.

Worries about the vote counting have cast a shadow over Thursday's elections that were initially praised by foreign observers and billed by some as a model for the continent.

Odinga supporters set fire to a car in a Nairobi suburb yesterday as envoys, foreign monitors and local media urged calm.

"The ECK, Kibaki's Party of National Unity and Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement on the one hand, and the citizens on the other, must all make sure Kenya does not burn," the Sunday Standard newspaper said in an editorial. "The country is bigger than all of us."

Observer teams from the EU, the Commonwealth and various African groupings have all urged restraint, while Washington and London also voiced their concern overnight.

Former colonial power Britain said it was disturbed by the violence and urged all politicians to act responsibly, while Washington asked candidates to accept the electoral commission's final result.

"We condemn the violence that occurred in Kenya as its citizens await these election results and call on all Kenyans to remain calm while the vote tabulation process is concluded," US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement.

"This is a pivotal moment for Kenya. It is vital the entire election process meets the expectations of the Kenyan electorate," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

Kivuitu admitted there had been some problems, including a 115 percent voter turnout reported in one constituency and the disappearance of some electoral officers.

Kibaki made no public appeal for calm.
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