Kenyatta,
who faces international charges of crimes against humanity, secured the victory
over his main rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who secured 43.28 percent of
the vote.
The
first round win, which must be officially confirmed by the Independent Electoral
and Boundaries Commission, means Kenyans who waited five days for the result of
the vote will not face a run-off that would have prolonged the uncertainty.
To
secure an outright win, a candidate needed more than 50 percent of the votes.
Kenyatta
achieved that by a margin of just 4,100 votes. About 12.3 million votes were
cast. Such a narrow win will almost certainly prompt legal challenges from
Odinga's camp, which complained about the election process throughout.
Kenyatta,
the deputy prime minister, secured 6,173,433 votes out of a total of 12,338,667
ballots cast, the provisional figures showed, indicating a margin of 50.03
percent.
Western
donors had warned before the vote that diplomatic ties would be complicated
with a win by Kenyatta who, along with his running mate William Ruto, is facing
charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The
Hague related to post-election violence five years ago.
Kenyans
hoped this vote would restore their nation's reputation as one of Africa's most
stable democracies after the tribal slaughter that followed the disputed 2007
vote that Odinga said Mwai Kibaki stole from him.
The
test will be whether any challenges to the outcome are worked out in the courts
of the newly reformed judiciary, and do not spill over into the streets, as
they did in 2007.
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