Celebrations broke out in pockets of Kenya on Thursday (August 10) after the opposition said Raila Odinga should be declared the winner of the presidential vote – a claim rejected as “ridiculous” by an election commission official.

An opposition official said information from “confidential sources” showed Odinga had secured victory, contradicting official preliminary results released so far which show President Uhuru Kenyatta had won 54.2 percent of votes, ahead of Odinga on 44.9 percent – a lead of 1.4 million votes with 99 percent of polling stations reported.

International observers on Thursday praised the handling of the election and the European Union mission said it had seen no sign of manipulation during voting.

As they wait for final results to be tallied and confirmed, many Kenyans are nervous of a repeat of the clashes that killed about 1,200 people after the bitterly contested 2007 election.

The election commission said it hoped to have all results centralised by midday on Friday (August 11) and would announce a winner soon after that.