Kenyan election scrapes toward runoff as results come due

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Frontrunner Uhuru Kenyatta has 49.7 percent of

the vote so far, but tribal votes, which could benefit rival Prime Minister Raila Odinga, are still uncounted. If Kenyatta pulls more than 50 percent and wins, it would complicate world relations. He is facing trial for unleashing death squads after the bloody 2007 election.

NAIROBI — Kenya's presidential race tightened Friday with frontrunner Uhuru Kenyatta gaining just under half of the ballots counted four days after the vote, raising the prospect of a tense runoff against his main rival Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Kenyatta, deputy prime minister and son of Kenya's founding president, has led since results started trickling in after polls closed Monday.

He is due to go on trial at The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity linked to the violent aftermath of the last election in 2007, posing a dilemma for Western policymakers.

Results from strongholds loyal to Odinga closed some of the gap, but with about a fifth of constituencies still to report, Kenyatta could yet secure more than 50 percent of the vote, the level needed for a first-round victory.

The count, questioned by both sides but considered broadly credible so far by international observers, is likely to go down to the wire.

The poll is seen as a critical test for Kenya, East Africa's largest economy, after its reputation as a stable democracy was damaged by the bloodshed that followed the 2007 election. Much will rest on whether the final result is accepted, and whether any challenges take place in the courts or on the streets.