(5 Aug 2010) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of Issack Hassan, Chairman of the interim independent electoral commission, walking onto the podium amidst loud applause
2. Cutaway audience
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Issack Hassan, Chairman of the interim independent electoral commission:
"The national tally now stands as follows: for "YES", 5,954,767. I repeat, for "YES", 5,954,767. This represents 67.25% of the votes. For "NO", 2,687,193. I repeat, for "NO", 2,687,193, this represents 30.25%."
4. Cut away of emblem of the interim independent electoral commission
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Issack Hassan, Chairman of the interim independent electoral commission:
"Passed through the constitution of Kenya, act 2008, and the referendum regulations 2010, I do declare the proposed new constitution is here by ratified."
6. Wide of crowd applause
7. Wide of media conference by various countries ambassadors to Kenya
8. Cutaway crowd
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Michael Greenberger, U.S Ambassador to Kenya:
"We want to compliment the people of Kenya on a democratic process which has been efficient, credible, transparent and which we think builds very well for the future of this country."
10. Wide of media conference
STORYLINE:
Kenya's new constitution was ratified on Thursday after results of the referendum were announced, showing that close to 70 percent of the country had backed the document replacing a British colonial-era draft that inflated the powers of the presidency.
Issack Hassan, Chairman of the interim independent electoral commission, announced that over two thirds of the 8.6 (m) million that cast their ballots had voted to change the constitution to curb the powers of the president.
"I do declare the proposed new constitution is here by ratified," he added while speaking in the nation's capital.
Voter turnout was 71 percent, the reason that long lines snaked for hours at ballot boxes around the country.
Opponents of the new constitution conceded defeat gracefully, paving the way for a peaceful transition to the new draft document.
Ethnically charged violence had left more than 1,000 people dead following the disputed 2007 presidential election, raising concerns about the aftermath of Wednesday's vote.
Opponents of the draft had expressed misgivings early Thursday about the results, but William Ruto, Kenya's higher education minister and a top leader of the "No" team, conceded defeat.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Kenya's new constitution was the centrepiece of the country's reform agenda aimed at addressing underlying causes of violence.
Voters overwhelmed polling stations in some locations on Wednesday. The international community, and particularly the U.S., had urged Kenyans to pass the constitution, even as the draft raised emotions over land rights, abortion and Muslim family courts.
In Nairobi, the US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Greenberger, complimented the nation of a democratic referendum that was "efficient, credible, transparent and which we think builds very well for the future of this country."
Kenya's current constitution, drawn up in the lead-up to Kenya's 1963 independence from Britain, grants the president sweeping powers.
The new constitution would dramatically cut back on those powers by setting up an American-style system of checks and balances, and paving the way for much-needed land reform.
An observer group said it had not seen any signs of rigging as had been claimed by some in the "No" camp.
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