President Moi of Kenya said on Monday that his victory in the elections was a victory for all Kenyans.

"Today marks yet another milestone in our political history. The campaign period has been difficult for all Kenyans; for some it was do or die," Mr Moi said at his swearing-in ceremony at Uhuru Park, Nairobi.

Moi supporters watch his inauguration in Nairobi

"My overall view is that it was a win situation for all. KANU [Kenya African National Union] won, democracy won and all Kenyans won.

"My victory is victory for all Kenyans, it is a victory for all those who respect the rule of law and the constitution," Moi said.

His speech was broadcast live on Kenyan TV.

Kenyan TV reports Moi victory

Text of report by Kenyan KTN TV on 4th January

We interrupt our normal transmission to bring you this news just in. Daniel arap Moi is elected president of Kenya.

Electoral Commission [EC] Chairman Samuel Kivuitu declared Moi the president-elect at a packed news conference at County Hall [central Nairobi] this afternoon.

Making the announcement, Kivuitu said the EC had received returns from 201constituencies and had every reason to believe that Moi had won the presidential election. Kivuitu said he is expecting returns from the remaining nine constituencies by midnight after which he will publish a Gazette Notice declaring Moi the bona fide president for the next five years.

The president-elect polled 2,445,801 votes against his closest rival Mwai Kibaki who polled 1,895,527.

Moi's last five-year term ended today. Sources told KTN [Kenya Television Network] that the president-elect would be sworn-in to office at a public function at Uhuru Park tomorrow morning [5th December]. Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

[Kivuitu - recording] There are nine constituencies yet to provide their results. However, even if they provided their total registered voters 147,751, and if all voted in favour of the candidate whose votes are next to the leading candidate number, these votes would not make any difference. Even the 25 per cent score in the provinces would not be affected if all the voters cast their votes for the other candidate.

In accordance with Section 5 of the Kenya constitution, the EC of Kenya is satisfied that the presidential candidate, Daniel Toroitich arap Moi has received the highest number of votes, was elected a member of parliament for Baringo Central [Rift Valley Province] and he has received a minimum of 25 per cent of the valid votes cast in at least five of the eight provinces of the republic of Kenya, is hereby declared the elected president of the republic of Kenya.

Source: KTN TV, Nairobi, in English 1405 gmt 4 Jan 98

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
 

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