Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga's party won three parliamentary seats on Thursday in by-elections that went ahead peacefully despite fears that political rivalry could resurface.

President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity — which formed a coalition with Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement to end unrest sparked by disputed elections in December — won two seats in Wednesday's polls, officials said.

The ODM retained two seats in western Kenya constituencies where an MP was killed and ODM lawmaker Kenneth Marende was elected speaker of parliament. It also won one in a northern region where rivals tied in the 27 December polls.

The PNU clinched a seat in western Kenya where violence prevented results from being announced and in the capital Nairobi where an ODM lawmaker was killed.

The 222-member assembly is now short of two MPs after two ODM lawmakers — roads minister Kipkalya Kones and home affairs assistant minister Lorna Laboso — died in an air crash Tuesday.

The voting and overnight tallying was largely peaceful, police said.

Vice president Kalonzo Musyoka said the by-elections, the first key test for the fragile coalition government, would not drive a wedge deeper into the coalition.

"Kenyans will not allow the by-election results to retard the progress we have made so far," Musyoka told reporters.

There had been fears of clashes similar to those sparked by the December presidential polls, in which opposition candidate and pre-election frontrunner Odinga accused incumbent Kibaki of rigging his victory.

Nationwide protests ensued and rapidly deteriorated into a cycle of ethnic battles and revenge killings that left at least 1500 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The chaos ended with a 28 February power-sharing deal brokered by former UN chief Kofi Annan which saw Kibaki keep his job and Odinga take the helm of a coalition cabinet.

Since then, the rival camps have wrangled on a range of issues, notably over an amnesty for dozens of Kenyans detained in connection with the post-poll violence.

Now the PNU has 104 seats and ODM has 103 in a parliament where passing ordinary bills requires only a simple majority and constitutional amendments a two-thirds majority.

With exception of the two seats left vacant by the air crash, the rest are held by MPs who are free to support any side.

Analysts said that the poll results risk stoking parliamentary tensions that have stalled key land and constitutional reforms over long-term disputes, which also contributed to the post-election violence.

"The wrangles will rage until both parties realise that they are equal partners and need to respect each other on that basis," said political analyst Evans Manduku on Wednesday.

AFP