Kenyans vote peacefully for five legislative seats

(SomaliNet) In a test of stability after widespread election-related violence last year, Kenyans voted peacefully on Wednesday for five legislative seats that will decide who holds a majority in Parliament.

Sources say the vote was the first balloting since the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki in December, which set off ethnic violence that killed least 1,300 people and displaced more than 300,000.

Amid fear that trouble might erupt again, police officers in riot gear with dogs patrolled polling stations on Wednesday.
Michael E. Ranneberger, the American ambassador, said the vote was a chance for Kenya to improve its image, which had been severely damaged by the violence.

“I think if the by-elections are peaceful and transparent and are generally regarded that way, that will show that Kenya has learned from the experience of December and is moving ahead democratically,” Mr. Ranneberger said.

By most accounts, the voting went smoothly, with a few polling places staying open a few extra minutes. Counting was expected to be completed Thursday, barring any problems, said Mani Lamayan, spokesman for the Electoral Commission of Kenya.

In the December election, vote-rigging was alleged and
international observers criticized the commission.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Party and Mr. Kibaki’s Party of National Unity are seeking to increase their numbers in Parliament.

“We learned a lot with what happened in the last election,” said Issak Mureithi, 45, a voter in Nairobi. “This time I have no fear of violence.”

The elections are to fill seats left open when two Orange Democratic Party legislators were shot dead and two more seats that remained undeclared in the chaotic aftermath of the December election. The fifth open seat is that of the parliamentary speaker, who stepped down from it after getting the speaker’s chair.

Two more Orange Democratic Party legislators, Kipkalya Kones, the minister of roads, and Lorna Laboso, the assistant minister of home affairs, died in a plane crash on Tuesday. No plans have been announced to fill their seats.-Reuters