Top news: Uhuru Kenyatta, indicted by the International Criminal Court for bankrolling election-related violence in 2007, won a narrow victory in Kenya's presidential election, securing 50.07 percent of the vote election authorities announced Saturday. Clearing the 50 percent mark with about 8,000 votes of over 12 million cast, Kenyatta, who is the son of Kenya's first president, will avoid a run-off, though his challenger, Raila Odinga, vowed to challenge the results.
Odinga maintained that the election was marred by fraud, refused to concede defeat, and said that he would challenge the election results before the Kenyan supreme court, saying Saturday that "democracy is on trial." With a mere 8,000 votes separating Odinga from a one-on-one rematch with Kenyatta, the stakes in the coming legal battle will be high, which is likely to focus on the many problems that bedeviled the country's election, including problems with the initial tally, overloaded servers, and a scrapped national ID system.
Should Kenyatta hold on to power, his ascension to the presidency is likely to create a difficult diplomatic situation for the West, which will have to balance the interests of maintaining relations with a key African ally and their commitments to the ICC. In a message Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated Kenyans for voting peacefully but pointedly omitted Kenyatta's name.
Afghanistan/U.S.: Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused the United States of being in collusion with the Taliban to maintain a military presence in the country, remarks that coincided with newly minted Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's visit to the country.
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