Kenyans vote down a new constitution

NAIROBI -- Kenyan voters, venting their frustration with a government that many said had not delivered on pledges to create jobs and to curb corruption, have overwhelmingly rejected a proposed constitution that would have given sweeping powers to President Mwai Kibaki.

With almost all of the ballots counted from a vote on Monday, the electoral chief, Samuel Kivuitu, announced yesterday that the proposed constitution had lost by 57 percent to 43 percent.

The voting was peaceful, despite a turbulent campaign, and it was widely seen a test of the country's democratic stability.

Kibaki, who had campaigned heavily for the revamped constitution, conceded defeat in a live television address.

''My government will respect the will of the people," said the president, 74, looking somber and tired. ''I would like to congratulate all of you for participating peacefully in this historic occasion."

Analysts expressed relief that the voting had been peaceful after weeks of turbulent, ethnically charged campaigning.

But they also said the defeat of the constitution could signal the crumbling of Kibaki's government, which was popularly elected in 2002 but which has lost support recently from key members of his own party.

''This is a real healthy moment for Kenya and Africa, because it shows that democracy can flow here," said David Makali, an analyst from Kenya's Media Institute. ''But what remains now is a real challenge and dilemma to the Kibaki administration. Can he make this work? He will have to show true leadership."

The referendum, which sought to overhaul the constitution for the first time since Kenya's independence from Britain in 1963, divided voters along ethnic lines, and split Kibaki's ruling coalition.

A leading opponent was Raila Odinga, a Cabinet minister to whom Kibaki had once promised the post of prime minister. Yesterday, Odinga praised the referendum outcome as ''historic days for our country."

The rejected constitutional changes would have given the president greater powers to choose government officials, and would have made the prime minister more of a figurehead.

Many voters favored an earlier draft of the charter that would have divided authority more evenly between the two posts, a safeguard in a region where leaders often stay in power for decades.

The rivalry between Kibaki and Odinga has been exacerbated by tribal differences. Kibaki is from the dominant Kikuyu tribe, and Odinga, minister of roads, is from the second-largest tribe, the Luo.

The referendum campaign was marred by tribal and personal slurs; Kibaki accused Odinga and others of planning a coup, and Odinga said the constitution could win only through fraud.

In the weeks before the vote, nine people were killed in clashes with security forces during opposition rallies.

There was widespread concern that polling would be rigged in favor of Kibaki, triggering further violence.

But the day was largely peaceful, although people appeared to generally vote along tribal lines.

Yesterday, many Kenyans celebrated the results of the referendum, in which voters who could not readparticipated by choosing between symbols of a banana, which stood for the ''yes" vote and an orange, which signified a ''no" vote.

''Maybe this is just the beginning for Kenya. Maybe things can really improve for us," said Beatrice Awori, 25, a mother of two who sells fruit at a street stall in Nairobi. ''We sold many oranges today."

Analysts said Kibaki, whose election almost four years ago was seen as a fresh start for Kenya after the autocratic rule of the longtime president, Daniel arap Moi, has been a disappointing, lethargic leader, and has allowed the country to drift back into corrupt practices of the past.

They said he will now have to give key Cabinet positions to opposition figures, further weakening his presidency, and that he probably would not be able to win reelection in polls scheduled for 2007.

''The shareholders of Kenya have spoken. We want leaders, not rulers," said Culture Minister Najib Balala, one of the senior officials who had opposed the draft charter.

He said Kibaki should ''show good leadership and give opposition leaders more say in his government and give Odinga the prime minister slot."