Kenyan election is today (March 4, 2013) - threats of violence are present - let's hope it turns out well

Nice Fantasy world you live in now a dose of reality for what it is like to be a Christian living near Muslims anywhere in the world including Kenya. For PBS article today:

"More than 1,000 people died in the ensuing violence, which included the igniting of a church where people were hiding near Eldoret in western Kenya."

C'mon realer...

That was mostly Christians on Christians. The violence immediately after the election on December 27, 2007 was due to what many would call tribalism. If one wanted to, they could attribute it to Christianity, though. After all, it was Christian missionaries that did the dirty work of "civilizing" the East African Protectorate so that the British Empire could build an extractive enterprise. The British settlers claimed the best land for themselves in the "White Highlands" and after independence in 1963, the two tribes in the area both claimed the land. The Kikuyus, with current candidate Uhuru Kenyatta's father Jomo as the first president, won out on many claims. The second president, from the Kalenjin, the tribe with most of the successful runners, corrected some of these issues through land grabbing. When an election seemed to be rigged for one tribe and against another, the tension boiled over.

So, in summation, if it wasn't for those Christian missionaries laying the groundwork for all of the following land issues, there would be no cause for those 1200+ deaths. And if that had not occurred, these 19 deaths would probably be a small blurb in the back pages at best and no one would ever have cause to project their prejudices on a very undeserving country.

Kenyan violence? What do they just run each other to death? I mean they freaking skeletons how are they capable of violence.

Are people with black skin just wired differently so that they form tribes/gangs and kill each other? I mean seriously if they put as much effort into over coming the white people who control the world they easier establish a new world order. Instead they are more concerned being n words and killing each other.

There are too many spoilt votes in this election.

The IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commision) has said that spoilt votes will be used in the final tally when calculating the percentages.

Currently, the results are as follows; (as of 8 p.m. East African Time- noon Eastern Time USA)

Odinga (CORD) 2.1 Million.

Uhuru (JUBILEE) 2.7 million.

TOTAL REGISTERED VOTERS: 14 million.

IEBC voter turn out estimate: (70-75%)

Total votes counted so far are about 5.6 million.

There are about 350,000 spoilt votes and the reason is due to the various colours of the ballot boxes.

Voters cast their votes for six different candidates using six different ballots which are cast in six different boxes of different colours.

Each ballot of a certain colour is cast/put/dropped in a box of a corresponding colour ( FAILURE TO WHICH IT BECOMES A SPOILT VOTE).

Once this happens, it means that that particular voter will make at least two mistakes at once thus having two of his votes nullified (or more).

This is due to lack of voter education by the IEBC.

The votes released so far are provisional results and not official. The IEBC (The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commision) has not relayed any results yet. They start so tomorrow (Wed. March 6).

To win, one has to get (50% +1 vote) OF THE TOTAL VOTES CAST!

Failure to that, there will be a re vote of the top two and a simple majority will determine the winner.

So far, Raila has 42%.

Kenyatta has 53%.

Now the IEBC has said that they will compute percentages by including the spoilt votes. I think thdy are trying to ameliorate the problem that they (iebc reated). I hope they dont burn the country due to their incompetence.

By so doing, this will definitely lower the percentages thus triggering/forcing a re-run.

Jubilee (Uhuru's party has rejected this and threatened to go to court.)

Of course CORD (Raila's party is elated).

We hope there will be no violence.

This, I am sure is not the last time we are hearing of this. It will be a world wide issue.

LORD HELP US!

NativeSon wrote:LORD HELP US!

Now no need for hysterics Native Son. You know Kenyans have no stomach for violence right now, and I think the IEBC has been impressive in its transparency following the failure of the electronic system. It's important that Kenyans know what is going and they do. And the peace campaign is like we've never before.

The inflammatory headlines are all from western news sources ... BBC, CNN, AP ... They misreported an opportunistic criminal act near the Somali border early on election day as election violence, then backtracked without apologies ... shame on them.

I don't like Uhuru or Raila, and my guy for president (Peter Kenneth) has been well beaten, but that's democracy for you, and most Kenyans seem to get that. Right now Kenyans on twitter are mad at Kalonzo and Balala for irresponsible language that could fan emotions.

Kenyano, I appreciate your points, but Mombasa and Kilifi are not very near the Somali border.

Uhuru has now been declared the winner, Raila is challenging the tally in court. All is still peaceful.

Following Closely wrote:

Kenyano, I appreciate your points, but Mombasa and Kilifi are not very near the Somali border.

Uhuru has now been declared the winner, Raila is challenging the tally in court. All is still peaceful.

Do yourself a favor by at least researching some basic things about Kenya. Mombasa, Kilifi and the entire of coastal province is the home tuff of MRC-Mombasa Republican Council. It is a group that is fighting for a secession from the rest of Kenya. They have been violent especially to the police and it is believed they are responsible for the deaths of four police officers on the eve of elections. The coast also borders somalia where Kenyan defense forces entered about two years ago to liberate it from Al Saabab, a group linked to Alqaida. As a result some of these Al Saabab fighters have entered Kenya and since Mombasa is muslim dominated, they are able to cammouflage and initiate attacks against the police and govt establishments. Associating Kenyans with violence is a complete misrepresentation. Kenyans love peace and have always done so. What happened in 2007-2008 does not represent Kenya at all. When Kenyans are left to do their own thing, they can do it in peace. External interference(including misreporting by the media) always causes unrest.

Uhuru Kenyatta nailed it by garnering 50.07% of the total vote.

Raila refuses to concede, promises to go to court. There is peace in the country. We are at peace!

The big story the western media was hoping for, crisis, violence and bloodshed, swooping like vultures to report failed to materialise. They had cameras set up in the Kibera slums, Nairobi and Kisumu City at the heart of Raila's strong-hold asking Raila voters (essentially goading them) if the heavy security offends them and if they would take to the streets following the loss. Irresponsible and inflammatory, if you ask me.

They then turned to reporting how Kenyans had elected a man facing trial for crimes against humanity and how it spelled future doom for the country. I didn't vote for him, but the Kenyan people have spoken. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? If the west didn't want Uhuru elected, they should have shut their yap and not interfered trying to tell Kenyans how to vote. This was not appreciated and only fuelled his support amongst neutrals.

In related news, I saw Wesley Korir interviewed on TV. He was elected MP of Cherengani after running as an Independent. Seems to have a good head on his shoulders ... articulate, well-spoken and humble.