KENYA ELECTION: UHURU KENYATTA 'WINS VOTE COUNT'

Uhuru Kenyatta: The son of Kenya's founding father Jomo Kenyatta

Kenya's Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta appears to have won the presidential election by the tightest of margins, provisional results indicate. After all the votes were counted he had polled 50.03% of the vote, 4,109 votes over the threshold required for outright victory.

 

But the official result will not come until 11:00 on Saturday (08:00 GMT). Rival candidate Raila Odinga is likely to file a legal challenge if he loses. One of Mr Odinga's aides told the BBC he would not concede victory and would take court action.

Mr Kenyatta won 6,173,433 votes out of a total of 12,338,667, well ahead of the prime minister, who polled 5,340,546 - or 43.28% of the vote. However, both candidates have complained of irregularities during the course of the count, since Monday's election.

 

Early on Saturday, small groups of Kenyatta supporters celebrated in Nairobi, hooting car horns and singing. 

If Mr Kenyatta is confirmed by Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), he could face difficult relations with Western countries.

Mr Kenyatta denies fuelling communal violence after the 2007 presidential vote

He faces trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in July for crimes against humanity.