NAIROBI, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's tensely contested general elections concluded the fifth day on Friday with candidate Uhuru Kenyatta holding its lead but slightly below 50 percent, provisional results showed.
The country's electoral body, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said on Friday night that it will make final announcement on presidential elections at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
As of midnight local time, Kenyatta garnered 6,035,582 votes, or 49.7 percent, while his rival Raila Odinga got 5,285,771 votes. The results are based on votes from 285 of 291 constituencies. Kenyatta has been swung above and below the 50 percent mark in the fifth day of the general elections, the first under the new Constitution.
For an outright victory in the first round, a candidate must garner at least 50 percent plus one of all votes cast, in addition to getting at least 25 percent of the votes in 24 counties out of 47.
If there is no outright winner in the first round, the top two candidates will proceed into a run-off, where the candidate who obtains more votes becomes president.
Isaack Hassan, chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, told a news briefing on Friday that the body is "working around the clock to ensure results are out today. " He also said "the results we are releasing are credible."
