U.N. sees few problems with Kenyan vote

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GENEVA, Switzerland, March 15 (UPI) -- The United Nations said Friday the Kenyan people deserve praise for a peaceful election, noting there were few problems seen during the voting.

Rupert Coleville, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, who visited Kenya to survey the country's elections, said the vote was peaceful and void of any systematic violations of human rights.

"Nevertheless, some challenges were noted including broken biometric voter registration kits, long queues and the length of time it took for many voters to cast their ballots -- in some cases up to 10 hours," he said in a statement.

Kenyan election officials were slow to release election results because of problems with vote counting.

Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta secured a narrow win over primary challenger Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

More than 1,000 people were killed during violence in Kenya following elections in 2007. Kenyatta faces the International Criminal Court in July on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the post-election violence.

There were few reports of violence tied to March 4 elections.