REGIONAL: NAIROBI – Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki trailed his main rival yesterday in the race to lead east Africa’s biggest economy for the next five years, according to early tallies by local media.

Partial results from three main television stations all gave opposition challenger Raila Odinga – the son of a nationalist hero – a strong lead over his former ally, although a separate exit poll put Kibaki ahead in what many had forecast would be Kenya’s closest ever election.

Were Odinga to win, this would make Kibaki the first of Kenya’s three sitting presidents to be ousted by the ballot box in the 44 years since the end of British colonial rule.
Unofficial TV results released.

The unofficial results by the TV channels were compiled from tallies at counting centres. The latest, from KTN at 12.15pm, gave Odinga 1,862,573 votes to 1,179,271 for Kibaki - representing about a third of ballots believed cast.

About 14 million Kenyans were eligible to vote, although turnout is expected to have been between 8 and 10 million.
As official counts slowly reached a Nairobi conference centre ringed by armed guards, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) said provisional results would be announced throughout today, but that the process could stretch into tomorrow.

Officials had earlier given the outcome from just two of Kenya’s 210 constituencies. One chose Odinga and the other picked the president, both by large majorities in a reflection of the country’s deeply entrenched Kenyan tribalism.

The ECK said turnout looked to be the highest since multiparty politics was reintroduced in 1992. International observers said on Thursday voting had gone smoothly, despite sporadic violence and allegations of rigging by both sides.

Commission blamed for delays
Odinga accused the ECK of deliberately delaying the publication of results.

The commission said it could be another 24 hours before the results are published. Results were very slowly coming through, just a handful had been announced by the election commission of Kenya.

But results were being reported steadily by radio and television stations.

Joseph Nyaga, the general secretary of the Orange Democratic Movement - headed by Odinga - said the delay threatened to cause instability and unrest right across the country.

Agencies