Kenya election last update

It's only the last update because of the slowness of the count, but it is pretty clear that Kenyatta is going to win - whether by enough to get over the 50%+1 hurdle on the first round is slightly more contentious.  And because I have to go back to the UK in a few hours I won't be able to give any more updates.   So enjoy if you can the last one...

Kenyatta: 2,800,000 (53%)
Odinga 2,200,000 (42%)
Mudavadi 150,000 (3%)
Kenneth 21,000 (0.6%)

Votes counted: 5,250,000

Around 5,750,000 more votes to be counted.

 

It's clear Raila Odinga is closing the gap slowly - but there seems almost no way he can do it quickly enough to win.

 

My best guess for the result is Odinga 43.6; Kenyatta 50.2 - thus avoiding a run off.

Kenya elections lunchtime update

With more than a third of the votes now counted and a robust defence from the IEBC about the validity of both the voting and counting processes, the results appear to be following a steady pattern.

Kenyatta: 2,535,000(54%)
Odinga 1,943,000 (41%)
Mudavadi 131,500 (3%)
Kenneth 27,300 (0.6%)

Votes counted: 4,750,000

Around 6,250,000 more votes to be counted.

Kenyan election update 9.30am

The race has slightly narrowed overnight, but with more than a quarter of the votes now counted it looks like Kenyatta is going to be the fourth President of the Republic of Kenya.

With 3.5 million votes counted Kenyatta has 1,920,000 (54%) and Odinga 1,470,000 (41%)and Mudavadi 100,000 (3%).  If Kenyatta maintains his 50%+1 share he avoids a run-off in April.

Kenyan count update 2.30am

Counting has become painfully slow - possibly due to the fact that the senior management of the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission have gone home to bed.

Their absence has allowed the CORD alliance to go on the attack claiming serious flaws in the election process - enough in their view to change the order of the race.

Strangely, this mirrors their attacks in the 2007 election when they also claimed they lost due to irregularities.  More of that in the morning no doubt.

Kenyan election 11.30pm update

With the late closing polling stations only just shutting, counting has been slow, but Kenyatta's lead is narrowing slightly:

Kenyatta: 715,000(56%)
Odinga 510,000 (40%)
Mudavadi 19,200(2.5%)
Kenneth 4,200 (0.5%)

Votes counted: 1,250,000

Around 10,000,000 more votes to be counted.

Kenya election results update 8.30pm

Kenyatta: 485,000(57%)
Odinga 328,000 (38%)
Mudavadi 19,200(2.5%)
Kenneth 4,200 (0.5%)

Votes counted: 850,000

Around 10,500,000 more votes to be counted.

Kenyan count 7pm update

Results coming in thick and fast as late opening polling stations begin to close and report their results.  More than 400,000 votes have now been counted and Kenyatta is leading Odinga by 230,000 to 170,000.  In third place is Mudavadi with 7,500 (less than 2%) and Nairobi housewives favourite Peter Kenneth is fourth with 2,200 (0.5%) - but with almost no counting from Nairobi and the suburbs.

Kenyan election results trickle in

With many polling stations remaining open past 5pm (EAT) to deal with the queues of voters who are still waiting to vote, most of the counts haven't started.  But from the the 2.5% of presidential votes so far counted and reported Kenyatta is leading Odinga 68,000 to 57,000. 

Turnout is reported at 86%.  But it is very early days.

Kenya goes to vote

And they appear to be fed up with western reporting of their election according to this from the Daily Nation...

Foreign reporters armed and ready to attack Kenya

Kenya was braced at the crossroads yesterday amidst growing concern that the demand for clichés is outstripping supply...

Kenyan election campaign winds up

Kenyans go to the polls on Monday and with campaigning banned tomorrow the two leading campaigns held their final campaign rallies in Nairobi.  I'm not sure these pictures really do the scale of the Jubilee Coalition's final rally in Uhuru Park justice - where a quarter of a million people spent more than six hours listening to political speeches.  It puts Nick Clegg's town hall meetings into perspective: