Referendum Goes Smoothly, Officials Say

Kenyans voted whether to approve a new constitution in a referendum that officials said went relatively smoothly.

The draft charter had bitterly divided the nation and led to preelection violence that killed seven people. In a country where a third of the citizens can’t read, voters marked a banana to vote yes and an orange to vote no.

Opponents of the constitution won two out of the first three constituencies. An additional 207 constituencies had yet to report their results.

Supporters and opponents of the proposed charter agree that Kenya needs a new constitution to curb decades of abuse of power by its leaders, but they have disagreed on the content.