Kenyan president leads challenger in partial vote results

NAIROBI, Kenya – Partial results from Kenya's elections show President Uhuru Kenyatta ahead of challenger Raila Odinga by a significant margin.

Data posted on the website of the Kenyan election commission on Wednesday showed Kenyatta with just over 55 percent and Odinga with 44 percent after votes were counted from about two-thirds of the 40,833 polling stations.

The election commission earlier tweeted that balloting Tuesday concluded "with minimal hitches."

Authorities hope to avoid the post-election violence of a decade ago when ethnic divisions fueled unrest that killed more than 1,000 people.

Kenyatta and Odinga also faced off in the mostly peaceful 2013 election. Kenyatta won with just over 50 percent of the vote; Odinga alleged voting irregularities but Kenya's highest court ruled in Kenyatta's favor by validating the results.