See the chaotic scenes as Kenya elects new president, reports Kenya’s electoral commission
Rwanda’s president and opposition leader embrace at a joint news conference in Kampala after the national elections concluded on Thursday
Somalia’s government on Friday announced it will not accept the results of the presidential election that it said was held in “a free and fair manner”, citing “the risk of terrorist attacks” in the country’s crowded main city of Mogadishu.
Voting took place in six of Somalia’s nine regions and the country’s capital, Mogadishu, for the first time after the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab took control of much of the south-central region in early August.
Kenya’s president and the main opposition candidate on Wednesday announced they would declare victory in the country’s presidential election with early results and hold a second round of voting in September.
Kenya’s leader Raila Odinga, 53, became Africa’s first elected female president in 2009, but he has struggled to get re-elected.
Election officials had reported Wednesday that Mr Odinga’s Alliance for Change led an alliance of opposition parties to beat Mr Kenyatta in the final round of the election, which was mostly peaceful.
Mr Odinga denied allegations of fraud on Thursday, and said: “We had a credible presidential election. We will be calling for a new election after September 28.”
Mr Kenyatta refused to concede defeat, saying his vote will “not mean that I am going to give him three to four more years in power”.
A spokesman for Mr Kenyatta said the vote was “free and fair”, adding: “It’s a victory for Kenya, but we will not be sitting on the fence for two more years.”
The electoral commission said early Thursday that the vote had been “free and fair”.
Electoral officials said there were 3.5m people on the electoral roll as of Wednesday evening.
“The results of the election are as follows. We have 3.5m registered voters. Of these 3.5m, 3.6m votes were cast,” the electoral commission said on its website.
The national electoral commission was
