Anxiety builds as Kenya’s vote tally moves slowly

NAIROBI: The head of Kenya´s election commission on Friday admitted the tallying of results from the presidential poll was moving too slowly, as national broadcasters abruptly stopped sharing provisional outcomes.

Tuesday´s election was largely peaceful but disputes over previous presidential votes have been followed by deadly violence, fuelling jitters as provisional results point to a tight race between frontrunners William Ruto and Raila Odinga.

But with the complex process of verifying and tallying votes now in its fourth day, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati accused political party agents of delaying the exercise by haranguing election workers with unnecessary questions. Christopher Mesa, a pastor at the Africa Gospel Church in the lakeside city, said there was "a lot of anxiety about the results" among his congregation, and the conflicting results on television only served to confuse people. But turnout was lower than seen in previous elections and some Kenyans said they were keen to move on and resume normal life. International observers, have hailed the IEBC for improving its procedures.