(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-30 21:54

NAIROBI  -- Kenyans expected to find out Sunday the winner of the country's tight presidential race, after three days of vote tallying marred by opposition claims of state-engineered rigging and widespread rioting.

With only a few polling stations missing from the presidential tally, the electoral board was due to announce whether Mwai Kibaki would remain at the helm of East Africa's largest economy or Raila Odinga would become Kenya's fourth president.

The opposition candidate was ahead of Kibaki in most pre-election polls and in early media tallies following Thursday's general election but the latest interim count announced on Saturday evening put them neck-and-neck.

A stormy press conference by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) gave Odinga an edge of just under 40,000 votes, with late results clearly going Kibaki's way.

Virulent protests by officials from Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) prompted the commission to adjourn the session and promise overnight scrutiny of results in all 210 constituencies.

Of the pending constituencies, a majority are believed to be favourable to Kibaki.

Odinga held a press conference Sunday to urge Kibaki to concede defeat or allow a recount of the votes.

"I therefore ask that this current exercise and impasse can only be resolved through a national recount in Nairobi under the full glare of media watchfulness and the involvement of election observers," Odinga said.

Hundreds of dejected opposition supporters faced off with riot police in the sprawling pro-Odinga Nairobi slum of Kibera, shouting "No Raila, No Kenya!" and "We want our rights!"

Burning tyres, looting shops and engaging in clashes with rival tribes, rioters in Nairobi and western Kenya sparked fears of nationwide unrest if suspicions of vote rigging were not rapidly cleared.

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