Uhuru Kenyatta won re-election as president in Kenya, defeating veteran opposition leader and long time rival Raila Odinga in a tense contest.
Kenya's election commission declared the final official results, giving the incumbent a substantial margin of victory over the veteran opposition politician Raila Odinga. But the opposition has rejected the result by terming it "systematic" fraud. The nation's top elections official, Wafula Chebukati, said that the vote was carried out in a "free, fair and credible manner".
The 55-year-old businessman and son of the country's founding President Kenyatta garnered 54.27 per cent of the final vote to secure a second five-year term. Odinga received 44.74 per cent.
With reports of violence in Kisumu, Kenya's third city, there were fears that the former British colony could witness a reprise of the violence that claimed 1,300 lives after Odinga's defeat in another election ten years ago.
In a nationally broadcast speech, the president said that he and his opponent were not enemies.
"We are all citizens of one republic," CNN quoted Kenyatta as saying. "As with any competition, there shall always be winners and there shall be losers. But we all belong to one great nation called Kenya."
Kenyatta said he wanted to work with the opposition National Super Alliance (NASA).
"I extend a hand of partnership knowing fully well that this country needs all of us pulling together in order for us to succeed," he said.
A 72-year-old former political prisoner Odinga, who has campaigned for the presidency four times, is refusing to accept the results, claiming the vote was hacked.
