Nairobi — Kenyas Electoral Commission declared veteran opposition leader, Mwai Kibaki, 71, his countrys new president, Sunday, confirming his resounding victory in Fridays polls. The announcement formally ended four decades of dominant rule by President Daniel arap Mois governing Kenya African National Union (Kanu) and hours of expectation and growing tension over delayed polling results.
To jubilant chants of "Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow," the chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), Samuel Kivuitu, announced the official win by the opposition National Rainbow Coalitions (Narc) candidate. Kivuitu said "The Electoral Commission declares the honourable Mwai Kibaki the president of Kenya."
"Provisional figures indicate that Mwai Kibaki is ahead of the next presidential candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta, by a very wide margin. It is not possible that the margin can be eliminated," said Kivuitu. Kenyatta was personally selected Mois successor, with the widely-held perception that he could be easily manipulated by Kenyas outgoing president.
Kenya state radio announced Sunday that President-elect Kibaki would be sworn in at 09h00 local time (06h00 GMT) on Monday at Uhuru (Freedom) Park in downtown Nairobi. All day Sunday the army and an inauguration preparation committee worked on cleaning and painting the park and constructing a special ramp.
Kibaki, who was involved in a car accident in early December, flew back home confined to a wheelchair on 12 December, wearing a neck brace and with his foot in plaster. It appears he may have to be wheeled onto the podium where he will take the oath of office, making him Kenyas third president since independence from Britain in 1963.
Mondays scheduled swearing-in will be the first time an incumbent and democratically-chosen president has handed over power to a duly-elected successor in Kenyas 39-year history.
The opposition trounced Kanus presidential candidate, who came a distant second. Kenyatta conceded defeat earlier Sunday and said "I accept the choice of the people. Mwai Kibaki will be the third president of the Republic of Kenya. Kanu and I will respect him and his position in accordance with the constitution."
ECK concluded that Kibaki had a majority vote and had also "secured 25 percent in seven out of eight provinces in which the country is divided. He has therefore satisfied the criteria which the president must meet."
The recently-formed opposition Rainbow Alliance has also swept to victory in the parliamentary poll.
Earlier Kivuitu had to beat a hasty retreat after an update briefing, when angry Narc supporters demanded that he immediately declare Kibaki Kenyas next president. Making his formal declaration on Sunday evening, the ECK chairman acknowledged that "Kenyans are anxious that the ECK publishes its results without delay. They have indeed become impatient."
Kibakis followers thronged the streets around County Hall, where the results were awaited. But they were already loudly celebrating the taste of electoral victory, ecstatic that their vote would end the 24-year Moi era and usher in what they hope to be a bright new future for Kenya.
Bars and public places were alive with excitement and chatter.
Asked by allAfrica if he was disappointed by his crushing defeat by Kibaki, Kenyatta, looking relaxed and joking with journalists, said "no". But he added, seriously: "As every door closes, a new one opens; this is a great opportunity for Kanu. From the ashes we will build a strong and formidable force that will be ready to face any opposition in the future."
That could be a long way off, at least five years hence, when Kenya is set to go back to the polls to hold its next general election. Meanwhile Kenyatta, elected to parliament for the first time, will become the official opposition leader and he and his Kanu colleagues will be sitting on the back benches - a first in the partys 39-year history.
The man who will lead Kenya into a new political era, president-elect Kibaki, held a victory news conference Sunday afternoon at his graceful home in the affluent Muthaiga suburb of Nairobi. He thanked the Kenyan people for their vote and confidence, repeated his campaign pledges and laid out his vision for Kenya.
Kibaki campaigned on a ticket of reform, which appeared to appeal to Kenyan voters, many of whom expressed a thirst for change. They yearned for the opportunity to place their trust in a new leader they hope will improve their lives, end unemployment, create jobs, haul the economy out of the doldrums and halt corruption. Kibaki faces huge expectations and challenges "to restore Kenya to her former glory."
Looking happy and smiling amid loud applause, Kibaki told journalists and assembled Narc officials: "Kenyans have given me a challenge to go ahead and fulfil all those things that I personally have been promising and that our party has been promising. And I can assure you that it is precisely what we are going to do, beginning tomorrow."
Kenyattas rallying cry that he represented a fresh start for Kenya clearly did not strike a chord with voters. He conceded that, "definitely there was a mood for change in the country and the perception put there by the opposition was that we were not that change Kenya was looking for."
Kibaki supporters who spoke to allAfrica.com later Sunday said Kenyatta was still a political novice and his time would come, once he had spent a period in opposition in parliament and had learned something about government and politics.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Three young women, Maureen Okidi, 23, Nancy Kinyua, 21, and Brenda Omondi, 25, were among the hundreds of opposition voters who took to the streets rejoicing. Asked why they thought Kibaki would make a good president, and what his leadership would herald for Kenya, they all replied: "It will mean a bright future for us and it will mean the end to corruption and the chance for jobs."
Omondi said Kibaki and a new government meant "change". She said: "Ever since I was born, and I am now 25, I have been ruled by Moi and Kanu. This is the right time we needed for change and it has come. I think it is the right thing we have done, voting for Kibaki. He is there for us. We need to give him a chance to bring change."
Another plus for Narc, they said, was that the party included representatives from all Kenyas tribes, reducing the chances of ethnic tensions.
The three youngsters said Kibakis priorities should be education, job creation, affordable housing and healthcare - including a focus on HIV/Aids. But for all three, the most urgent problem was to rid Nairobis streets of bands of abandoned glue-sniffing children, who they said Kibaki should ensure were put in school, so they too had a future in Kenya.
