People in Kenya are awaiting the results of the African country’s first presidential elections since the disputed 2007 vote that caused a wave of violence.

Vote count began late Monday after millions of Kenyans lined up for long hours to vote for a new president, parliamentarians, governors, senators, councilors, and special women’s representatives.

With about a third of the votes counted, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta was leading over his main rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Kenyatta had 2.19 million votes, or 55 percent, until 10:30 Nairobi time (07:30 GMT) Tuesday, while Odinga had 1.65 million votes, or 41 percent.

The head of the electoral commission said this was a provisional outcome and asked people to wait for the final results, to be announced later on Tuesday.


Kenyatta is due to stand trial at the International Criminal Court over allegations of involvement in orchestrating the violence in 2007. The deputy prime minister denies the allegations.

The elections have had a violent start as 19 Kenyans, including security forces, were killed in an attack by gunmen hours ahead of the opening of the polling stations in the port city of Mombasa.

In 2007, more than 1,100 people were killed in post-election violence which erupted across the country, while 600,000 were forced to flee their homes.