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Kenyans are anxiously waiting for the results of the general elections, with growing fear of violence, as the release of votes tally was delayed by an information communication technology's breakdown which hit data transmission system of the election.
The delay stirred up rising concerns of possible disputes over final results, which resulted in bloodshed that killed more than 1, 200 people. In order to ensure the election fair and transparent, the country employed the technology whose failure sparking anxiety across the country.
The commission in charge of organizing elections, the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), admitted the hitch, forcing it to resort to manual counting of votes at the national tallying center at the Bomas of Kenya, a cultural center south of Nairobi.
Kenyan soldiers patrol after violent incidents in coastal areas in Kenya, March 4, 2013. At least 14 people have been killed in the last 24 hours in separate incidents in Kenya's Indian Ocean port city Mombasa and northern region as millions of voters thronged polling stations.(Xinhua)
Chairman of the IEBC Isaack Hassan on Tuesday promised to release the presidential results first as required by the constitution, by the end of Wednesday, but late afternoon on the same day is when the manual counting of the presidential votes started.
Earlier, about 5 million votes had been counted using the electronic system. The delay has been condemned by Kenyans because of its potential to cause violence and give room for negative propaganda that may ignite violence.
UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon called on Kenyans to remain peaceful as they wait for the results to be counted.
"I am happy with the peaceful and orderly process and how Kenyans have conducted themselves so far. Voters, candidates, political leaders and their supporters should maintain the same calm and patience, to allow IEBC to complete its tallying of the votes, and to refrain from any pronouncements that could undermine its authority or cause tension," he said in a statement.
A staff worker presses ballot papers with hands at a counting station in Nairobi, Kenya, March 4, 2013. Millions of Kenyans turned up early Monday to vote in the historic general elections after independence and in the first national exercise under new constitution after the a disputed polls in 2007. (Xinhua/Meng Chenguang)
The IEBC was forced as a result to call all its returning officers from the country's 47 counties to present manual entries of the votes tally for the finally manual tallying to be done in Nairobi, a process may push announcement of the final tally announcement to Friday morning, Hassan told during Wednesday night's media briefing.
The government has also been forced to postpone the opening of schools to next Monday from the earlier planned opening day of Thursday, because of the expected delay in the release of the final vote tally.
Essentially, the IEBC has by law seven days to announce the votes tally, meaning that constitutionally, it has up to Monday next week to do so.
The most awaited elections results are those of the presidential candidates, being contested closely by Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta who took early lead, according to partial results.
Kenyans across all walks of life called on the IEBC to hasten the process and announce the results in the shortest time possible.
Most Kenyans, who spoke to Xinhua on Wednesday and also posted messages on the social media, said they were happy by the conduct of the party supporters during the elections as no major violence cases were reported and therefore the commission should build on that goodwill, but were worried by the delay.
"We know what happened in 2007 when delay in announcing the presidential vote happened. This country cannot afford to get back there," said Nancy Auma, a Social Worker based at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya's largest referral hospital.
A woman casts her ballot at a polling station about 40 kilometers to Nairobi, Kenya, on March 4, 2013. Some 14.3 million Kenyan voters lined up to cast their ballots Monday to choose the country's next president.(Xinhua/Xiao Zhengqiang)
Public discussions were dominated by the talk of delayed votes, with most Kenyans wondering how an ICT failure could hold up the whole process while Kenya is renowned as one of the leading countries in the use and development of ICT in the continent.
"It is an irony really. That a computer failure, be what it may is holding up such an important process, yet the country prides itself as a front runner in ICT," said Danson Mwangi, Managing Director of Danfast Data Services.
Leading presidential candidates Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta called on their supporters to be patient and await the announcement of results by the IEBC.
Calm was reported across the country but newsrooms were jammed with calls from anxious Kenyans eager to get the updates of the vote tallying process.
Kenyans were also concerned of the high number of rejected votes that average 350,000 when the tally of 5 million votes had been done.
It was not yet clear by the time of going to press what caused the high number of rejected votes.
A staff worker of Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission opens a ballot paper box at a counting station in Nairobi, Kenya, March 4, 2013. (Xinhua/Meng Chenguang)
Some Kenyans blamed the IEBC for poor public education; others said it was because of the complexity of the voting that saw Kenyans elect six representatives at a go, including the president, senator, governor, Member of Parliament, women representative and county assembly representative.
Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo banned all demonstrations relating to elections results and warned that any attempts to mobilize the public to demonstrate in the streets against election outcome will not be tolerated.
The business community that worried over a slowing economy as more enterprises scale down their operations called for calm and for entrepreneurs to resume normal operations.
European Union Elections Observation Mission in Nairobi said the phases ahead of the IEBC, especially the counting of votes are as much defining parts of the process as election day.
"The overall credibility and transparency of the general elections can be assessed after the tallying, the announcement of the results and any possible petitions are also dealt with," said Chief Observer Alojz Peterle.
