Kenya Elections Seems to be a Close Call

It seems as if Raila Odinga may be the next president of Kenya, says an unofficial count for the Kenya election.  This would b the first time in Kenya’s history that a president in office has received such a challenge to his seat.  It’s a close call, but the results are coming out slowly raising fears that the Kenya election is being rigged. 

Although the election itself turned out to be a success with little violence, some still fear that a riot might ensue once the results have been published. 

The 76 year old President, Mwai Kibaki is known for improving Kenya’s economy and tourist industry, however, his anti-graft campaign failed while the country still battles tribalism and poverty.

62 Year old Raila Odinga is proving to be a great challenge for President Kibaki, promising to aid the poor, focusing on Kibera, which is home to 700,000 underprivileged people.  Odinga is being faulted for not dong anything to help the people in his fifteen years as a lawmaker.

One of the media tallies, Nation media group, reports that Odinga has 56% of the votes leaving Kibaki 37% of the 21% that was counted, although there was no official verification.

In order for Odinga to win he must not only gain the most votes but also have at least 35% of his votes in five of Kenya’s eight provinces.  This is to be sure that the elected president has support in most of the country since most some provinces can be swayed by tribal influence. 

In the Kenya elections, voters also chose 210 parliament members and over 20000 local councilors.