Presidential frontrunner Uhuru Kenyatta held the lead as the vote count in Kenya's election entered the final stretch on Friday and he battled to avoid a second round in a closely-fought race mired in allegations of fraud. With less than a fifth of constituencies left to report results, Kenyatta was hovering just below the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff and maintained a clear lead over his arch-rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chief Ahmed Issack Hassan said officials were working "around the clock" to tally the final results "as soon as possible". However, based on the speed of reporting of results in past 24 hours, final tallies might not be ready until Saturday.
Kenyatta, the deputy prime minister and one of Africa's richest men, faces a crimes against humanity trial in July at the International Criminal Court over the deadly violence that erupted after the contested 2007 elections. The tallying process for Monday's election has been marred by allegations from both sides, including charges by Odinga's party that results had been "doctored".
Kenyatta's party has also raised concerns over the slow-moving vote count, complaining about the inclusion of spoiled ballots in the overall total, which could potentially tips the balance in favour of a second round. The rigging claims, dismissed by Kenya's electoral commission, have added to tensions in a nation still scarred by the weeks of deadly violence that following contested polls five years ago.
Over 1,100 people were killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes in the 2007-8 bloody ethnic violence that shattered Kenya's image as a beacon of regional stability. As of 1445 GMT, Kenyatta had won 5.1 million votes against Odinga's 4.5 million, with as many as three-quarters of Kenya's 14.3 million registered voters estimated to have cast a ballot. To win outright and avoid a second round, a candidate must win more than half of all votes cast, according to the constitution, as well as at least 25 percent of votes in more than half of all 47 counties.
Odinga and Kenyatta - the son of independent Kenya's founding president - have both publicly vowed there will be no repeat of the 2007-2008 bloodshed that broke out over the counting process. Kenya has been largely calm in recent days apart from isolated incidents of violence. Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, trailing in third place with some three percent, conceded defeat Friday saying he had "misgivings" about the electoral process, but also appealing to Kenyatta and Odinga to "keep the peace whatever the outcome of the elections".
Odinga ran for president in the last elections in 2007 and has always insisted he was robbed of victory, which went to his main rival Mwai Kibaki, who was backed by Kenyatta. The vote tallying process has repeatedly come under fire after an expensive electronic system to register and recognise voters - and later to send results - suffered widespread failure.