Latest: Ten die in anti-Kibaki protests in west Kenya - TV
NAIROBI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Ten people have died in west Kenya as protests against President Mwai Kibaki's controversial re-election erupted around the nation, the respected local broadcaster Nation Television (NTV) said.
NTV said the deaths occurred in the town of Kisii, in the province of Nyanza, which is the homeland of opposition candidate Raila Odinga and his Luo ethnic group. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
The Electoral Commission of Kenya has declared President Mwai Kibaki the winner of Thursday's election. It said he won 4,584,721 votes to challenger Raila Odinga's 4,352,993. But European Union observers have cast doubt on the credibility of the result and the opposition has called for a recount.
(left) President Kibaki is sworn in on Sunday. more>>
Musyoka has served in parliament since 1980s. He broke away from Kenya African National Union over a nomination row in 2002, and split from Odinga/ODM this year to run for president.
The son of liberation hero Oginga Odinga, Odinga has been involved in politics for decades. He was part of Kibaki coalition in 2002, but broke away from Kibaki after the election.
NAIROBI, KENYA -- President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner today of last week's presidential elections and was hastily sworn in to a new five-year term, amid ethnic violence over the vote count and widespread allegations of fraud.
The chief of the European Union election observers in the country, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, immediately issued a statement casting doubt on the credibility of the results in an election that is crucial to consolidating this East African nation's young democracy.
Earlier, opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga called on the 76-year-old president to concede defeat and called for a recount of the votes.
There were reports of renewed violence and rioting as soon as Kibaki's victory was announced on television.
Lambsdorff raised concern about counting irregularities and said the Electoral Commission of Kenya had not established the integrity of the vote.
"Because of . . . observed irregularities, some doubt remains as to the accuracy of the result of the presidential election as announced today," his statement said.
"There is a massive question mark over the tally of votes," Lambsdorff said earlier in the day. "Our observers have been sent away from tallying centers without being given results. In Mombasa, none of the results were being displayed at the tallying centers." He was also concerned that some seats showed an unusually high turnout, of 98% or 99%.
The election had initially won praise from European and U.S. observers.
Scuffles and chaos broke out at the election results center in Nairobi moments after the chief of the electoral commission, Samuel Kivuitu, began reading the final results. Police ushered him away after an opposition supporter approached, yelling, "Justice! This is not a police state."
Soon afterward, Kivuitu appeared live on television, broadcasting from a different office, and declared Kibaki the winner. Within hours, Kibaki was sworn in.
Security was tight in this East African nation of 37 million after Saturday's riots over suspected election rigging. Opposition supporters burned and looted shops and businesses of people belonging to Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, Kenya's largest ethnic group.
Odinga was well ahead in counting Friday, but Saturday saw the voting tally steadily tilt in Kibaki's favor, prompting suspicions of fraud.
The parliamentary vote, also held Thursday, showed a massive repudiation of the government and incumbent members of parliament. Twenty government ministers and most members of parliament lost their seats.
In a news conference today, Odinga, the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement, accused the government of "multiple levels of fraud" in the vote. He claimed the electoral commission had topped up votes in Kibaki's stronghold seats, saying the results were questionable in at least 48 of the 210 seats.
Kibaki's Party of National Unity scoffed at Odinga's claims and said it was on course to win the election. It said the only legitimate figures were those of the electoral commission.
Odinga claimed he would have been in front by half a million votes if the vote had not been rigged, instead of the slim 38,000 lead he had over Kibaki in official tallies late Saturday.
Party representatives heckled and jeered commission officials as they announced the results Saturday. Late Saturday, the commission suspended the count and said it would conduct a review of the tallies.
Odinga rejected the review as superficial and said the only way to resolve the impasse was a recount conducted transparently in the capital, Nairobi, with international observers present.
"This government has lost all legitimacy and cannot govern," he said. "I wish to appeal to President Mwai Kibaki to acknowledge and respect the will of the people of Kenya and honorably concede defeat.
"The people know that they voted to eject the incumbent and put in a place a president and a government they have faith in. That is why they have elected me president."
He called on his supporters to remain calm and avoid violence.
Under Kibaki, Kenya has enjoyed stable economic growth, a booming tourist industry and free primary education, but his opponents say he did not deliver on his promise to deal with corruption, a big issue for voters.
Odinga, 62, the son of the country's first vice president, is a wealthy businessman who campaigns in a red Hummer and has promised to improve the lives of the poor.
Special correspondent Nicholas Soi reported from Nairobi and staff writer Robyn Dixon from Johannesburg, South Africa.
US Congratulates Kenya Presidential Vote Winner, EU Monitors Question Results
By Voice Of America (U.S. Government Run) 30 December 2007
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki is seen in Nairobi in this Dec. 12, 2007 file photo
The U.S. State Department on Sunday congratulated Mwai Kibaki as the winner of Kenya's presidential election and called for calm in the African nation already disrupted by deadly riots.
But European Union election observers have questioned the credibility of the results.
The chief EU election monitor, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said Kenya's electoral commission has failed to establish the credibility of the vote-counting process, because it has not addressed reported irregularities.
He said that, because of those irregularities, some doubt remains about the accuracy of the official results.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressed "real concerns" over Kenya's election irregularities, calling on political leaders to address them "in a way that will bring the respect and support of the Kenyan people."
He urged all sides to settle their disputes peacefully through dialogue and the judicial appeals process.
The European Union team and other election observers initially declared Thursday's election to be free of fraud but withheld later judgment as delays developed during the vote-counting.
On Sunday, they EU said its observers were blocked from the count.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
