CAIRO, January 2: President Daniel Arap Moi and his Kenyan African National Union (KANU) party were poised today for victory in the country's presidential and parliamentary polls and asked the opposition, which alleges widespread electoral fraud, to accept the results.Seventy-three-year-old Moi, who has already retained his parliamentary seat, secured 1.9 million against his former deputy and nearest challenger Mwai Kibaki's 1.6 million after counting of ballots of presidential polls in 163 of the 210 parliamentary constituencies across the country, according to unofficial results put out by private Kenyan Television Network (KTN).
Moi, who has ruled the country for 19 years, took an unassailable lead of 345,000 votes against Kibaki of main opposition Democratic Party and secured 25 per cent of the votes in five of Kenya's eight provinces which, along with victory in a parliamentary seat, is mandatory to win the race for presidentship.
KANU emerged as the single largest party with 73 seats in the
210-member parliament after results of 159 constituencies were available, KTN said.
Democratic party with 33 a and National Democratic Party (NDP) with 19 seats were distant second and third.
The government asked the opposition parties to accept the election verdict and warned of tough police action against possible attempts to disturb peace.
The government statement came a day after Kibaki and National Democratic Party leader Rail Odinga, one of the presidential candidates placed third in the race, said they would not accept the election results warning the country was heading towards civil war. The opposition alleged the polls were rigged with Kibaki asserting yesterday ``we shall not accept rigged elections, and ...we shall cooperate with all other democratic forces in ensuring that justice and peace are achieved.''
But the government said it would not tolerate or condone any intimidation or provocation of its citizens ``by those who may wish to ignore the wishes of Kenyans and incite them to
plunge our peaceful and beloved country into chaos,'' and warned the police would act ``swiftly and firmly''.
The elections, third multi-party exercise in Kenya since 1963, were held on Monday but had to be stretched to an unprecedented second day because of disorganised poll arrangements.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
