Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has said he expects a new government to be formed in two to three weeks.
Mr Odinga told the BBC he believed "this new beginning has a very good prospect of succeeding".
At Thursday's state opening of parliament in Nairobi, Mr Odinga's erstwhile rival, President Mwai Kibaki, also sounded a hopeful note.
He urged MPs to pass into law a power-sharing agreement aimed at ending weeks of post-election violence.
Under the deal, opposition leader Raila Odinga would become prime minister - but the details of the structure and programme of the new government have yet to be worked out.
Hundreds of people have died in violence following polls in December, which Mr Odinga said were rigged.
Compromise
Mr Odinga told the BBC's Network Africa programme that he and Mr Kibaki had "decided that Kenya is better than all of us, and we must put the interests of the country ahead of our own interests".
KENYA PARLIAMENT
He said a 10-member team of politicians from both main parties would work together to try to agree a compromise manifesto for government.
Once the necessary bills affirming the power-sharing deal had been passed, "the first task will be to form the government which we expect to do within the next two to three weeks".
He said dealing with those displaced and wounded in the violence that followed the 27 December poll would be a priority for the new government, along with reconstruction.
Constitutional, legal and institutional reforms would follow, he said.
Obstacles ahead
On Thursday, Mr Kibaki told lawmakers that the power-sharing deal would lay "the foundations for peace and stability in our country".
The BBC's Adam Mynott in Nairobi said that from the atmosphere in the parliament, it did seem that the two parties were united, despite their previous animosity.
The outwards signs suggest that Kenya is moving steadily down the path to a unified government, but there will be obstacles along the way, he says.
Under the deal, brokered by UN-backed negotiators, Mr Odinga is to be appointed prime minister - a post that does not currently exist under the Kenyan constitution.
However, it is not yet clear what Mr Odinga's powers and responsibilities will be - with differences of opinion over whether he will wield equal power with the president, or serve under the president.
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