Nervous Kenyans await Raila response to Uhuru's election victory

Nervous Kenyans waited on Tuesday for the response of Opposition leader Raila Odinga to President Uhuru Kenyatta's victory in last week's election.

The re-run on October 26 inflamed the deep ethnic tensions dividing the nation.

Raila, a veteran politician who has now lost his fifth election, is expected to give his first reaction to Uhuru's Monday night victory in a speech to loyalists.

"We are just waiting for Baba to speak," said Desmond Litava, a NASA supporter in Kawangware, a restive slum in Nairobi, using a term of respect for the leader.

Read: Teargas in Kawangware after protesters hurl stones at Matiang'i convoy

In the worse case, Raila could call for his supporters to take to the streets, unleashing chaos in cities such as Nairobi and Kisumu to the detriment of the already struggling economy.

After a disputed election in 2007, around 1,200 people were killed in clashes between rival ethnic gangs that also led to a prolonged slump in the region's biggest and most important economy.

On the other hand, Raila could limit his appeal to the courts, as he did in 2013, and yield to diplomatic pressure to engage in post-election 'national dialogue' with his arch political rival.

More on this: IEBC has confirmed my victory but I'll accept court challenge - Uhuru

Also read: Kenyans voted for me without a doubt, Uhuru says in acceptance speech

The announcement of Uhuru's victory, by a margin of 98 per cent due to a boycott on grounds the election was not free or fair, provoked anger in pro-Raila slums, whose residents burnt tyre barricades and threw rocks at police.

Anti-riot officers responded with volleys of tear gas, in scenes that have been common in Nairobi's slums and Raila strongholds in western Kenya since the first attempt at an election in August.

That vote was annulled by the Supreme Court on the basis of procedural irregularities in the vote-tallying. Raila argued that the re-run was also flawed because of a failure to replace key officials of the election commission. 

Source