Nairobi: President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner on Sunday of a presidential election marked by allegations of rigging and deadly violence that erupted again after the result was announced.
Elections chief Samuel Kivuitu, who read the result on live television after other media were expelled from the main vote headquarters, said Kibaki beat Raila Odinga by 231,728 votes in the closest race in Kenya's history. "This means Honourable Mwai Kibaki is the winner," Kivuitu said.
Kibaki was swiftly sworn in at State House. "We have done our nation proud and set a good example for the rest of the continent," Kibaki said.
Within minutes of the result, black smoke was billowing from Nairobi's sprawling Kibera slum, where thousands of people have been on the streets for the past two days shouting "Kibaki must go!" and claiming the vote has been rigged. Violence around the country has killed at least 15 people since Saturday, authorities said.
'Atomic weapon'
"These are our guns," said 24-year-old Cliff Owino, holding up a handful of rocks in Mathare, a Nairobi slum where young men were setting up roadblocks and building bonfires. "But a voting card is our atomic weapon." Others were waving machetes in the air as buses and shops burned.
Earlier on Sunday, Odinga had called on Kibaki to concede and asked for a recount, saying the electoral commission "cannot possibly address the multiple levels of fraud administered by this administration". But Kibaki's camp urged patience for the official results.
