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The counting center in Nairobi on Sunday
Photo: THOMAS MUKOYA / REUTERS
After the presidential election in Kenya, the two favorites are going head-to-head.
According to partial results, Vice President William Ruto is just ahead of former opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has 48.09 percent, with 51.25 percent, as the independent electoral commission in Nairobi announced after counting almost 50 percent of the votes on Sunday.
The day before, Odinga was just ahead.
Five days after the election of a successor to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was not allowed to stand again after two terms in office, the country is still waiting for the result of the election.
Even before the election it was clear that it would end in a duel between Odinga and Ruto.
The mood in the country is tense
The mood in the East African country is tense.
Since 2002, every election has been contentious.
Violence broke out after the elections in 2007/2008 in particular: 1,100 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Police officers were dispatched to the heavily guarded counting center in Nairobi on Sunday night after party representatives disrupted the count and accused each other of manipulation.
A group of 14 unions and organisations, including Amnesty International and Transparency, called for calm in a joint statement on Sunday.
"We appeal to all candidates, their supporters and the public to exercise restraint," the statement said.
"We all must avoid stoking tensions that could easily lead to violence."
During the election campaign, Odinga and Ruto had promised to respect the result of free and transparent elections and to take any doubts to the courts and not to use violence in the streets.
Because of the expected tight outcome, observers expect that the defeated candidate will go to court.
In that case, it would still be many weeks before the new president took office.
In Odinga's stronghold of Kisumu, around 300 believers prayed for a peaceful election outcome on Sunday.
“Don't let politics divide us.
We must remain united,” Bishop Washington Ogonyo Ngede appealed to parishioners.
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