NAIROBI, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta was on Saturday declared 4th president, vowing to work for all Kenyans and cooperate with international institutions.
Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's founding president, secured 50.07 percent of total votes, chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Isaack Hassan announced, slightly above the 50 percent mark to avoid the second round run-off. He also attained more than 25 percent in at least 32 out of 47 counties required by the constitution.
"I therefore declare Uhuru Kenyatta the duly elected president of the Republic of Kenya," the chairman said.
Kenyatta defeated its closest rival Prime Minister Raila Odinga with 43.3 percent of votes.
"Today, we celebrate the triumph of democracy and peace," Kenyatta said in his first address after election. "We have demonstrated a level of maturity that has surpassed expectations. We upheld order and respected the rule of law," he said.
"I will work for the good of the people of Kenya regardless of their party affiliation," Kenyatta said, adding "my government will protect rights of Kenyans without fear or favor."
Kenyatta, who was charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, assured his commitment to the ICC process, and wanted the international community to accept his Presidency.
"We recognize and accept our international obligations and will cooperate with international institutions," he said, expecting the international community to respect the sovereign will of the people of Kenya.
He also offered friendship to opponents and a call to work to all Kenyans and expressed his thanks to his "old brother Raila for his spirited campaign."
The general elections, first under the new constitution passed in 2010, was largely peaceful with millions of Kenyans lining up to make their voice.
However, the counting was disrupted by the technical breakdown of the electronic system for transmitting votes which forced IEBC to resort to manual tallying. The election results were challenged by the defeated Raila Odinga, who said after the official announcement, that the election was "tainted," and that he plans to challenge the election results in court.
Odinga's party made complaints on Thursday and questioned the integrity of the vote tallying process, saying the results were doctored. The party also urged the tallying should be stopped. The allegation was dismissed by Isaack Hassan who said the tallying of the ballot can't be halted since it was a legal process and asked the aggrieved parties to seek legal redress to stop it.
"CORD has faith in the Judiciary. We will shortly move to court to challenge the outcome," Odinga said on Saturday. He said the manual tally of votes was flawed and that the election has been "a tainted election."
At the same time, Odinga urged his supporters to remain calm and respect the decision of the Supreme Court. "We ask Kenyans to uphold peace. Any violence now will destroy the country," said Odinga.
Before the polls, both Kenyatta and Odinga had publicly vowed that there would be repeat of violence, following the disputed 2007 polls, in which more 1,200 were killed and up to 650,000 people were displaced.
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