Tensions in Kenya over election results

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NAIROBI, (Kenya), Dec 29 (Agencies): Thousands of people waved machetes, looted shops and burned down homes Saturday as tensions flared over the slow return of results from the closest presidential election in Kenya's history. Millionaire opposition candidate Raila Odinga appeared to be leading the race, but only partial and unofficial tallies have been released from Thursday's vote. By Saturday afternoon, the Electoral Commission said Odinga was leading with 3.7 million votes to President Mwai Kibaki's 3.4 million with 159 of the 210 constituencies counted.
In Nairobi's Kibera slum, Odinga's main constituency, young men with fingers still stained with voting ink were shouting "No Raila, No Kenya!" - an ominous call to declare him the winner.
Hamisi Noor, 22, standing in front of his burnt-out home in Kibera, said a crowd hreatened him with machetes before setting his home on fire and cutting his father across the face.
Noor, a member of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, said his assailants belonged to Odinga's Luo tribe. "I don't know who they were," said Noor, his trousers covered in blood and mud. "But they were Luos."
In the capital, about 6 miles outside the deserted city center, police blocked off streets as young men climbed up billboards to rip down Odinga posters.
"Kibaki come back!" the men shouted as they waved machetes and sticks.
The election marks the first time an incumbent has faced a credible challenge in Kenya's four decades of independence from Britain. The race focused on corruption, with both candidates vowing to end the graft and tribal favoritism that has tainted Kenyan politics for years.