Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s legendary first President Jomo Kenyatta, early this morning moved from being his country’s Deputy Prime Minister to the apex office of President. He was declared winner of Kenya’s presidential election though with a slim margin of 50.03 per cent of the votes cast.

After all the votes were counted on early this morning, Kenyatta had received just 4,100 votes over the threshold required to avoid a run-off with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who secured 43.28 per cent of the vote, according to a Reuters report.

Whereas won 6,173,433 votes out of 12,338,667, Odinga polled 5,340,546 votes.
Provisional figures showed that more than 12.2 million votes were cast by about 86 per cent of eligible voters. Kenyatta’s victory must be officially confirmed by Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which will announce the result at 0800 GMT today.

Kenyatta’s victory is significant because it came despite strong opposition to his candidature by the West. Kenyatta is accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of crimes against humanity for violence related to the 2007 election, and is scheduled to be tried in The Hague in July.

More than 100 Kenyans were killed and 600,000 forced to leave their homes following the disputed 2007 election that Odinga said Mwai Kibaki rigged.

International observers say this year’s election and the vote count have been transparent. Odinga, however, claims that it was rigged and has vowed to mount a legal challenge to Kenyatta’s victory.

•Photo: President Uhuru Kenyatta (second right) acknowledging cheers from his supporters.