Kenya's defeated presidential contender Raila Odinga has delayed his legal challenge to last week's election result, his allies said on Friday, extending a period of uncertainty over the outcome of the disputed poll. Odinga refused to accept the slim first-round win by rival Uhuru Kenyatta - and his allies had said he would present a petition to the Supreme Court on Friday alleging collusion between the president-elect and the electoral commission.
But officials from Odinga's CORD coalition told reporters the papers would now go to the court a day later on Saturday - the deadline for complaints - to prevent their challenge getting "mixed up" with other election-related cases. "The reason for the postponement is merely strategic and has nothing to do with the content of the petition and other accompanying documents," senior CORD member James Orengo said. Kenyatta, the son of the country's first president, faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court alleging he incited violence during the bloody aftermath to Kenya's 2007 presidential vote. He denies the charges.
There has been no repeat of that elections' deadly tribal violence that sent the region's biggest economy into a tailspin and threatened the country's image as a safe place for tourists and investors. Odinga has called for calm while he takes his case to court and has said he will accept the final ruling.
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