Odinga's party wins 3 Parly seats
2008-06-12 14:54
Nairobi - Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga's party won three parliamentary seats on Thursday in by-elections that went ahead peacefully despite fears that political rivalry could resurface.
President Mwai Kibaki Party of National Unity (PNU) - which formed a coalition with Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to end unrest sparked by disputed elections in December - won two seats from Wednesday's polls, officials said.
The ODM retained two seats in western Kenya constituencies, where an MP was killed and ODM parliamentarian Kenneth Marende was elected speaker of parliament. It also won one in northern region, where rivals tied in the December 27 polls.
The PNU clinched a seat in western Kenya, where violence prevented results from being announced and in the capital Nairobi, where an ODM parliamentarian was killed.
The 222-member assembly was short of two MPs after two ODM MPs - Roads Minister Kipkalya Kones and Home Affairs Assistant Minister Lorna Laboso - died in an air crash on Tuesday.
Post-poll violence
The voting and overnight tallying was largely peaceful, said police.
There had been fears of clashes similar to those sparked by the December presidential polls, in which opposition candidate and pre-election frontrunner Odinga accused incumbent Kibaki of rigging his victory.
Nationwide protests ensued and rapidly deteriorated into a cycle of ethnic battles and revenge killings that left at least 1 500 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
The chaos ended with a February 28 power-sharing deal brokered by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, which saw Kibaki keep his job and Odinga take the helm of a coalition cabinet.
Since then, the rival camps had wrangled on a range of issues, notably over amnesty for dozens of Kenyans detained in connection with the post-poll violence.
Some had demanded blanket forgiveness for those who simply protested against results widely criticised as rigged while other officials insisted justice should follow its course.