Kenya’s outgoing President called for his nation to stay calm when a court rules today on a legal challenge over the presidential election result, seeking to avoid a repeat of the tribal bloodbath that followed a disputed vote five years ago.

Orderly voting on March 4 after which Uhuru Kenyatta was declared victor has gone a long way to restoring Kenya’s image as one of Africa’s more stable democracies. And this time round, a row over the result has played out in court not the street.

But the final test comes when Kenyans hear from the Supreme Court whether it upholds Kenyatta’s win or orders a new vote that would give another chance to defeated Raila Odinga, who disputed the result declared on March 9 after a five-day count.

Kenyatta, whose win would pose a headache for Western donors because of charges he faces in the Hague over the 2007 violence, was well ahead of Odinga in total votes but had only just enough to exceed the 50 per cent threshold to avoid a run-off.

“As the country awaits the Supreme Court ruling which is due this Easter weekend, I call upon all of us to accept the ruling and maintain peace,” President Mwai Kibaki said in a message to mark the Christian holiday.

“Kenyans should resume their routine economic activities as soon as possible to return normalcy in the country,” he said.

East Africa’s biggest economy was hammered when the December 2007 vote was followed by weeks of ethnic rioting that killed more than 1,200 people, scaring away investors and tourists. Growth has not yet recovered to levels before the 2007 vote.

Neighbours, some of whose economies were hurt when their trade routes through Kenya were shut down five years ago, have been watching warily. So too have Western donors, who see Kenya as a vital ally in the regional battle against militant Islam.

Many ordinary Kenyans, even in the flashpoints of five years ago, insist there will not be re-run of the violence, partly because of greater confidence of a fair adjudication by the judiciary, reformed after 2007 with changes in its top echelon.

“It is hard to know where the truth lies,” said John Okello, 45, a taxi driver in Kisumu, a city in western Kenya devastated by violence last time.

“Let us leave that to the courts. I believe they will grant us credible justice.”

But voting patterns in Kenya are still largely determined by tribal loyalties, leaving room for sparks from the losing side.