Kenya PM Odinga''s running mate alleges vote-rigging

KENYA - The running mate of Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a frontrunner in the presidential race, alleged Thursday that vote results had been "doctored".

"We have evidence that the results we have received have been doctored," outgoing vice president Kalonzo Musyoka told reporters.

But he also urged calm and stressed that his accusations about Monday's elections were "not a call to mass action" and that the party was "committed to the principle of rule of law".

Odinga says he was robbed of victory in the last polls in 2007 when disputed results triggered bloody ethnic violence in which over 1,100 people were killed.

"Because of these concerns, we as a coalition take the position that the national vote tallying process lacks integrity and has to be stopped," Musyoka said.

Concerns have been raised at the widespread failure of a system under which the electoral commission had been broadcasting running tallies based on encrypted text messages received from polling stations.

Leaders have urged calm after hitches caused an electronic tallying system to stall, forcing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Wednesday to start reading out results delivered in person by returning officers.

It is the fourth day since Kenyans cast their vote for a new president to replace departing President Mwai Kibaki, for senator, governor and members of parliament.

Kenyan authorities have also said the outcome of the country's presidential election would not be compromised by the failure of electronic vote counting technology that has delayed results for a third day.

The east African nation's electorate body said Wednesday it expects to announce the final presidential results on Friday.

AFP