Political peace holds in Kenya

Kenya's two main political parties managed to avoid new conflict Thursday when they resolved five outstanding seats in the country's delicately balanced parliament. President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity got three seats and Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement won two and avoided the violence and mistrust that characterized national elections in December. Ethnic unrest following the December vote nearly forced the division of Kenya, but the two leaders agreed on a compromise that has settled the dispute, at least for the present. Kibaki was re-elected in the disputed polling and Odinga was given the post of prime minister in the coalition government. More than 1,000 people were killed in tribal violence that swept the country after the December election and imperiled the Kenyan economy, which had been one of Africa's largest and most successful. The by-elections filled two seats left open in the chaos that followed December's voting and two seats held by ODM legislators who were killed. The fifth seat belonged to the speaker of the parliament, who left for another government position.