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ODM's Raila Odinga is the MP-elect for Langata constituency and seemingly headed straight to the presidency of Kenya.Results just announced at Nyayo Stadium by the Langata ECK Returning Officer shows that Raila garnered 59,416 votes against his closest challenger Mr. Stanley Livondo of PNU who garnered 23,919 votes. Ms Stella Mbai of ODM-K emerged a distant third with 1342 votes. A large crowd of mostly Raila's supporters, including this blogger and some members of the ODM presidential campaign team , have kept vigil at the Nyayo Stadium tallying centre for the last 24 hours. There is a strong contingent of the dreaded paramilitary GSU and regular police providing security for the ECK returning officer and the various party agents.
There was initial speculation locally and internationally that the ODM presidential candidate Raila Odinga would lose the parliamentary seat and therefore be lawfully disqualified from assuming the presidency which requires that the president must first be elected as an MP.
Since the vote counting started last night, there has been anxiety considering that Raila is President Kibaki's leading challenger and that there has been allegations of massive voter importation into Langata principally to frustrate his presidential bid.
Presidential results as at 16h45 local time show that Raila is steadily widening the gap as media tallying show Raila at 2.9m against Kibaki's 1.9m, while Kalonzo is trailing a distant third with 279,000 votes.
Most ODM MP elect have already started arriving in Nairobi in readiness of what Pentagon member and Eldoret North MP-elect says is "the inauguration of our candidate as the 4th President of the Republic of Kenya."
This blogger has not yet declared Raila the overall winner of the presidential poll, but all indications are that ODM will not only have a majority in the next parliament, it will most likely also be forming the next government.
Meanwhile disturbing news emanating from Kisii say that former legislator Jimmy Angwenyi has shot dead one person and seriously injured two others in his rural constituency in post election violence. The results or despute, if any, are still unknown. More on this to follow.