Kenyatta, who was declared winner of Monday’s presidential election by a slim margin — 50.07 percent of the votes cast — said on Saturday that voters had upheld “respect for the rule of law”.
The-51-year-old deputy prime minister had received just 8,400 votes over the threshold required to avoid a run-off with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who secured 43.28 percent of the vote, the country’s election commission announced earlier in the day.
More than 12.2 million votes were cast by about 86 percent of eligible voters, provisional figures showed.
Kenyatta is accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of crimes against humanity for violence related to the 2007 election, and will be tried in The Hague in July.
More than 1,000 Kenyans were killed and 600,000 were forced to leave their homes following the disputed 2007 vote that Odinga said Mwai Kibaki stole from him.
“We recognize and accept our international obligations and we will continue to co-operate with all nations and international institutions,” Kenyatta said after winning the vote.
But he added that the international community should also “respect our sovereignty”.
