Opposition leads Kenyan election count

By Daniel Wallis and Katie Nguyen

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's opposition challenger Raila Odinga took the lead on Friday in the race to govern east Africa's biggest economy, the vote count showed, while tempers frayed over delays in the counting process.

If the wealthy heir of a nationalist hero wins, President Mwai Kibaki would become the first of Kenya's three post-independence leaders to be ousted by the ballot box.

By 10:15 p.m. (1915 GMT), the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) had released results from 69 of the country's 210 constituencies, with Odinga leading by 1,691,679 votes to 1,222,725 for Kibaki.

Three local TV stations aired unofficial, partial results showing Odinga holding a commanding lead. KTN had him on 3.5 million votes versus Kibaki's 2.9 million. That represented more than half the 8-10 million ballots thought to have been cast.

Anxiety grew at the electoral commission delays.

"In this era of technology it is surprising that ECK seems to be moving at a snail's pace in satisfying public hunger for information," civil society groups said in a statement.

"ECK must do better ... otherwise a situation will be created where sections of Kenyans will dispute the results."

Scenting victory, Odinga's supporters said they feared the hold-up meant the government was plotting to rig the result.

"Is this a strategy to impose a rejected regime on the people?" asked opposition official Joseph Nyaga.

The ECK denied any malpractice but also lamented the delays.

"If results were announced on the media two hours ago, the returning officer has no excuse for not getting them to us," ECK Commissioner Jack Tumwa said. "The country is getting restless."

"ENVY OF AFRICA"

Diplomats said Thursday's poll was only the second truly democratic election in a country that votes largely on ethnic and geographic lines and spent 39 years ruled by one party until Kibaki's landslide victory in 2002.

An ECK spokesman said turnout looked to be the highest since multi-party politics were reintroduced in 1992, and foreign observers said voting had gone smoothly, despite some violence and allegations of ballot fraud by both sides.

"The ECK has run elections with efficiency and independence that should be the envy of the rest of Africa," the Daily Nation newspaper said in an editorial.