Violence erupts over long wait for results of Kenya's election

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Thousands of Kenyans enraged over delays in announcing the country's next president burned down homes and attacked political rivals with sticks and machetes Saturday, tainting a vote that initially was seen as a beacon of hope for democracy in Africa.

Three people were shot dead during protests in Migori, 360 miles west of Nairobi, said area police chief Grace Kaindi. In the capital Nairobi, hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Raila Odinga marching on the electoral commission were beaten back by police using tear gas.

With votes in 180 of 210 constituencies counted, Odinga clung to his razor-thin lead by 38,000 votes. Despite pleas from both parties to release final results quickly, electoral commission chairman Samuel Kivuitu suspended announcing tallies for the night, promising to look into allegations of rigging from both sides.

"If they don't announce results in two hours, we are going to burn this place down!" shouted 23-year-old John Odhiambo as youths armed with metal rods looted a flaming market behind him in the capital's biggest slum, Kibera.

Police Commissioner Hussein Ali appealed for calm.

"There cannot be democracy where people think they can get recourse through hooliganism," he said.

Thursday's vote pitted incumbent President Mwai Kibaki against Odinga, a flamboyant millionaire who cast himself as a champion of the poor. It was the country's most closely fought election since independence from Britain in 1963. On Saturday, both parties said they had won but the electoral commission said counting was not finished yet.

Kibaki is from Kenya's largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu, while Odinga is from the second largest group, the Luos, who are poorer and feel politically marginalized.

Odinga, a fiery 62-year-old former political prisoner, promised change and help for the poor. His main constituency is Kibera, home to at least 700,000 people who live in extreme poverty and the scene of many of Saturday's riots. In recent months he has made it a priority to reach out to the country's middle class and businessmen, many of whom are Kikuyus.

Supporters of 76-year-old Kibaki say he has turned Kenya's moribund economy into an East African powerhouse, with an average growth rate of 5 percent and a booming tourism industry. But Kibaki's anti-graft campaign has been seen as largely a failure, and the country still struggles with tribalism and poverty.

Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement party accused the government of deliberately delaying results because they were losing. Kibaki's Party of National Unity insists it wants the results released quickly, but says it has a list of grievances it wants addressed.

Kiviuti, the electoral commission chairman, acknowledged there had been problems, including a constituency where voter turnout added up to 115 percent and another where a candidate ran off with ballot papers.

During a chaotic news conference, he said he had been unable to trace the polling officers who declared results in those locations but assured the media there would be a repeat vote in those areas if necessary.

Already frustrated by delays, slum dwellers quickly latched onto wild rumors of tit-for-tat ethnic killings and young men hacked apart wooden fence posts to use as weapons. In the Luo section of the slums, staggering silhouettes emerged from clouds of tear gas mixed with the acrid smoke from burning tires.

"Even if it means death for us, we are ready to die for the next generation," 25-year-old Kennedy Owirah said.

Across the railroad tracks in the Kikuyu areas, vigilante mobs stalked the fetid alleys armed with axes and machetes. A roar of anger went up at each new plume of black smoke, but the gangs were wary of venturing too far from their home turf. Ted Njoroje, 22, said he was carrying a machete for protection against rival mobs.

"I cannot let anyone just come to my place to burn it," he said, sharpening the blade against concrete. "The Luos want to burn everything."

As the violence spread to several other cities, residents of the capital stocked up on food and water and boarded up their shops.

In Kisumu, some 185 miles from Nairobi, protesters clogged the streets and police said shops, banks and a supermarket were vandalized.

Hundreds of people died in election-related clashes in months leading up to the election.

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Associated Press writers Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Tom Maliti, Tom Odula and Akmal Rajput contributed to this report.