Kenyatta declared winner of Kenyan presidential election by tiny margin

Uhuru Kenyatta, indicted for crimes against humanity, was declared winner of Kenya's presidential election on Saturday with a tiny margin, just enough to avoid a run-off after a race that has divided the nation along tribal lines.

Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's founding president, faces trial after the disputed 2007 presidential vote that unleashed a wave of tribal blood-letting.

With the 51-year-old in the top job, Kenya will become the second African country after Sudan to have a sitting president indicted by the International Criminal Court.

The United States and other Western powers, big donors to the east African nation, said before the vote that a Kenyatta win would complicate diplomatic ties with a nation viewed as a vital ally in the regional battle against militant Islam.

After saying Kenyatta secured 50.07 percent of the votes, just achieving the more than 50 percent needed to avoid a second round, the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Issack Hassan, announced:

"I therefore declare Uhuru Kenyatta the duly elected president of the Republic of Kenya," he said. Shortly afterwards he handed a certificate of the results to Kenyatta, who had arrived after the declartion. Kenyatta thanked him.

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