Kenyan election volunteers cheer as they wrap up the counting of ballots for Monday's general election at St Theresa Girl School, used as a polling and counting station, in the Mathare area of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Kenya on Monday held its first presidential election since the 2007 vote which ushered in months of tribal violence that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced 600,000 from their homes. Election officials in Kenya began counting ballots by hand on Wednesday after the early returns electronic system broke down, while a top presidential candidate levied charges against Britain's high commissioner that the U.K. is meddling in the vote. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Kenyan election volunteers cheer as they wrap up the counting of ballots for Monday's general election at St Theresa Girl School, used as a polling and counting station, in the Mathare area of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Kenya on Monday held its first presidential election since the 2007 vote which ushered in months of tribal violence that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced 600,000 from their homes. Election officials in Kenya began counting ballots by hand on Wednesday after the early returns electronic system broke down, while a top presidential candidate levied charges against Britain's high commissioner that the U.K. is meddling in the vote. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
An electoral worker engages in a part of the tally verification process at the National Tallying Center in Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Election officials in Kenya are counting by hand the ballots from the nation's presidential election after abandoning the electronic tabulation system which has posted early returns. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Electoral workers engage in the vote tally verification process at the National Tallying Center in Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Election officials in Kenya are counting by hand the ballots from the nation's presidential election after abandoning the electronic tabulation system which has posted early returns. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Official representatives of the various political parties and electoral workers discuss while reviewing newly received results, at the National Tallying Center in Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Election officials in Kenya are counting by hand the ballots from the nation's presidential election after abandoning the electronic tabulation system which has posted early returns. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
An electoral worker at the call center of the the National Tallying Center reads a newspaper with a headline referring to problems in the vote counting and tallying process, in Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Election officials in Kenya are counting by hand the ballots from the nation's presidential election after abandoning the electronic tabulation system which has posted early returns. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? Kenya's election commission accepted responsibility on Wednesday for the failure of an electronic vote counting system that has left the country in an electoral limbo, while a leading presidential candidate accused Britain's high commissioner of meddling in the crucial election.
The election commission said that the final results of Monday's presidential election should be released Friday. Officials began transporting the tally sheets from voting locations to the capital to begin a count of the vote, the country's first since its 2007 election led to massive tribal violence that killed more than 1,000 people.
The coalition of Deputy Prime Minster Uhuru Kenyatta ? the candidate who faces charges at the International Criminal Court and is the son of Kenya's founding president ? accused the British high commissioner of "shadowy, suspicious and rather animated involvement" in efforts to get the election commission to decide that rejected ballots should still be counted in the overall vote total.
Kenyatta's party also asked the high commissioner, Christian Turner, to explain what it called "the sudden upsurge of British military personnel" in Kenya. British troops attend a six-week training course near Mount Kenya before deploying to Afghanistan. A new battle group arrived the week before Kenyans voted.
Britain's Foreign Office said claims of British interference "are entirely false and misleading." It said the British soldiers in Kenya are part of a regular training program planned nine months ago "completely unrelated to the Kenyan elections." It said Britain has no position on the rejected votes, saying that the election commission or the courts should decide.
"We have always said that this election is a choice for Kenyans alone to decide," the Foreign Office said, adding: "We urge all sides to ensure calm, avoid inflammatory statements, and to take any disputes to the courts."
Kenyatta and Prime Minister Raila Odinga are the top two contenders.
Kenyans grew increasingly frustrated that the announcements of public vote tallies stopped close to 48 hours after polls closed. The breakdown of the electronic vote system has meant that less than half of preliminary results were released. Officials ? who have been working to ensure violence doesn't break out this election ? are calling for patience.
"The delay is giving rise to conspiracy theories. People are panicking about the delay in the results of the elections. But unlike last election there is a level of restraint," said Kevin Muriunge, a 25-year-old student.
In an example of rising agitation, youths in the city of Garissa, near the Somali border, gathered near the vote tallying center and began rioting, drawing a response from police, who opened fire. One teenager was killed, said Musa Mohamed, a doctor at the Garissa hospital.
William Ruto, Kenyatta's running mate, urged the electoral commission to speed up the release of results.
"As we are all aware, the country is at a standstill at the moment," Ruto said.
At an evening news conference, the election commission chair, Ahmed Issack Hassan, tried to assure the country that all votes cast would be reflected in the final result. He urged any candidates to take any objections they have to court.
Referring to long voting lines during Monday's vote, Alojz Peterle, a former president of Slovenia and the chief observer in the European Union observer mission, said Kenyans have demonstrated they are capable of great patience.
"But even more patience is called for now," he added.
The election commission chairman announced late Tuesday that hundreds of thousands of ballots that were rejected for not following the rules would be counted in the overall vote total. That makes it very difficult, given the tight race, for either top candidate to reach the 50 percent mark needed to win outright.
Election observers from around the world said Wednesday that Kenya carried out a credible election, but the groups reserved final judgments until the process is completed. Some observers said a runoff between Odinga and Kenyatta is likely.
The partial preliminary results on Tuesday had shown an early lead for Kenyatta. Odinga's camp told supporters that the votes from his strongholds had not yet all been tallied.
The statement from Kenyatta's coalition Wednesday implied that the British high commissioner pressured the commission to make the decision on the spoiled ballots, thus ensuring a runoff.
John Stremlau, an election observer with The Carter Center, the body run by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, said it might be better for Kenyatta's coalition to use "foreign powers" as a whipping post than attacking Kenyans.
"It does seem to me to be a mindset of the old colonial era that the foreign powers would be dictating to the (election commission) in any way," Stremlau said, adding later: "There are going to be accusations in every election ... and they must be backed by evidence. Show the proof and let the judges decide and we'll all be better off."
Franklin Bett, an official in Odinga's party, echoed that statement. "Talk is easy. Let them come with the evidence."
Kenya is the lynchpin of East Africa's economy and plays a vital security role in the fight against Somali militants. The U.S. Embassy in Kenya is the largest in Africa, indicating this country's importance to U.S. foreign policy.
The U.S. has warned of "consequences" if Kenyatta is to win, as have several European countries, because Kenyatta is an ICC indictee.
Aisha Abdullahi, an African Union official, said it was good that Kenya had planned for a backup system ? the physical vote tallies ? given the breakdown in the electronic transmission system. He blamed the break-down on a failure of central computer servers.
"Yes, we in Africa are trying to catch up with you guys with electronic things," said Festus Mogae in response to a question from a European reporter. Mogae is a former president of Botswana and head of the Commonwealth observer mission.
"That it's failed is no surprise to me. It often does in our countries."
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Associated Press reporters Rodney Muhumuza in Nairobi and Daud Yussuf in Garissa contributed to this report.
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