A screenshot of the IEBC's partial results in the Siaya gubernatorial election. (Photo: Vote.IEBC.or.ke)

President Barack Obama's half-brother, Abong'o Malik Obama, won't be the second member of his family to launch a political career. Mr. Obama was defeated in his bid to be governor of Kenya's Siaya County this week by what seems to have been a very large margin.

Mr. Obama is the eldest child of President Obama's father. They have different mothers. Mr. Obama served as the best man at the president's wedding to Michelle Obama in 1992.

According to the Daily Nation newspaper in Nairobi, the Siaya gubernatorial race was won by Cornel Rasanga with William Oduol coming in second. The Daily Nation did not report Mr. Obama totals, however the Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which oversaw the elections and has been releasing sporadically updated results since Kenyans headed to the polls Monday, published a partial count that showed him in third place with just a little over one percent of the initial vote. Three other candidates trailed behind Mr. Obama. A call from Politicker to the IEBC Election Hotline this morning to inquire about the full count for the Siaya gubernatorial election went unanswered.

Siaya is one of 47 counties that were created in the the 2010 Constitution of Kenya, which was ratified after the 2007 presidential elections there ended with violence that left over 1,000 people dead and a disputed result. This year's race had few violent incidents, but it was not without controversy. There were technical glitches at polling stations throughout the country. Though all the votes have not been counted the two members of the ticket headed towards a likely victory in the presidential election, Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto, have both been charged by the International Criminal Court with “crimes against humanity” for allegedly orchestrating the violence that followed the last elections. The United States and other Western nations have vowed there will be unspecified “consequences” for Kenya if Mr. Kenyatta emerges victorious.

In an interview with Politicker on Tuesday, Mr. Obama said there was initially a "blackout" with no information released about the election results in Siaya. Because of delay, Mr. Obama said he believed there was "a high risk that the results may be manipulated."

Mr. Obama was running as an independent candidate. The winner of the race, Mr. Rasanga, is a member of one of Kenya's major political parties, the Orange Democratic Movement, or ODM. Mr. Oduol, who came in second, belongs to the National Agenda Party of Kenya.

As of this writing, Mr. Obama has not responded to requests to comment on the results of his race and whether he believes they are legitimate. Our last communication with him came via text message Tuesday afternoon as the official results were still coming in.

"Am number three so far," Mr. Obama wrote.

Abong'o Malik Obama (Photo: Facebook)

Abong'o Malik Obama wants to have a career in politics like his half-brother, President Barack Obama. However, hours after the polls closed in Kenya's elections last night, Mr. Obama said he wasn't sure whether his bid to be governor of Siaya County was a success and he is concerned the election results may have been tampered with. He's also extremely angry about tabloid coverage of his campaign.

"It's impossible to tell at this time, the whole system crashed," Mr. Obama told Politicker when we called him Tuesday morning to inquire about the election. "We have no idea, it's still hanging out there, and I myself am extremely disappointed and there is a high risk that the results may be manipulated." 

Yesterday's elections are the first under the 2010 Constitution of Kenya, which was ratified after the 2007 election ended with widespread violence and a disputed result. Though the voting yesterday proceeded largely without violence, there were reports of technical problems at many polling places. Mr. Obama said he stayed up late into the night and was given no information about the election result from officials.

"I was sitting out there at the tallying center for the county up until almost 1 o'clock last night and there's a complete blackout," he explained.

The new constitution divided Kenya into 47 counties including Siaya, which contains more than 800,000 residents and the hometown of the president's father, Barack Obama Sr. Mr. Obama is the first child of the elder Barack Obama. He was born three years prior to his presidential sibling, who has a different mother. Mr. Obama operates a charity called the Barack H. Obama Foundation, which, according to its website, "is entirely the idea of Abon'go Malik Obama, in memory of their father, and is not dependent on the endorsement of his brother, President Barack Obama."

As of this writing, the website of Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which is overseeing the election, shows Uhuru Kenyatta with a lead in Kenya's presidential race. Mr. Kenyatta and his running mate are two of the four people who have been charged by the International Criminal Court with "crimes against humanity" for allegedly orchestrating the violence after the last elections that left over 1,000 people dead. The United States and other Western nations have promised unspecified "consequences" if Mr. Kenyatta emerges victorious.

Though the IEBC site is showing results for the presidential election, it does not display results for other local offices including Mr. Obama's governor's race in Siaya. The IEBC did not pick up their "election hotline" when we called to inquire about the results. Mr. Obama is running as an independent candidate, a situation he said has left him with a tougher path to victory.

"I'm disadvantaged somewhat because of the resources that I have," said Mr. Obama. "I feel that I've done my best and so I just leave the rest to God."

Mr. Obama and the President served as the best man at each other's weddings. However, Mr. Obama said he hasn't discussed his political aspirations with his brother. According to Mr. Obama they last spoke in mid-November, when he congratulated President Obama on winning a second term. The White House did not respond to multiple requests to discuss Mr. Obama's campaign.

Along with his worries about the election result, Mr. Obama is concerned about an article in the British tabloid Daily Mail that alleged he mistreats his multiple wives. The story, which was written by reporter Andrew Malone, accused Mr. Obama of beating his wives and engaging in "secret trysts" to maintain an "estimated" 12 wives, which exceeds the four wives allowed by Islamic law.

"I also would like to, you know, comment on something that's going around on the net about me and my family and trying to malign and say a lot of bad things about me," Mr. Obama told us before we finished our conversation. "This gentleman who's from the Daily Mail ... he came down here and showed up, you know, just from the blue. ... He put out an article about me and how I'm philandering and how I'm beating up my wives and, you know, a lot of really bad things. And I really find that distasteful and it's a whole bunch of nonsense."

In the story, Mr. Maloney described Mr. Obama meeting prospective voters on the campaign trail including a "witch doctor ... with green and pink parrot feathers in his hair." Mr. Obama incorrectly claimed the reporter portrayed him as the one wearing feathers and said the article overall "sounds extremely racist and bigoted."

"He's talking about me wearing feathers and, you know, running around half naked," said Mr. Obama. "I really detest that kind of thing, especially in this day and this era, just because I'm related to the President of the United States, who happens to be a black man."

Mr. Obama also took issue with the story's claim two of his wives ran away from him and view him negatively.

"I don't understand why people go to those lengths just to be mean and nasty, because my wives and I--well, in fact, to tell you the truth, they voted for me yesterday," Mr. Obama said. "We were at the polling station and talking about my wives not wanting to vote for me and things like that is a whole bunch of fabrications and a whole bunch of lies."

As of this writing, we have been unable to reach Mr. Maloney to give him a chance to respond to Mr. Obama's claims. When we called the Daily Mail's headquarters in England an operator informed us Mr. Malone was "probably" a freelancer and told us to call back later today when the features editors are available.

In addition to racism, Mr. Obama blames the negative coverage he received on animosity people have towards his brother.

"You know, I didn't choose to be Obama. I didn't choose to be Obama's brother, you know, it just so happened. And now, everybody's going after me just because of my brother, so it's really unfair," said Mr. Obama. "Just because they hate my brother and so forth why do they have to attack me? I'm just trying to do the best I can with what I have, make a contribution. My brother's doing what he's doing over there, I'm doing what I'm doing over here. At the end of the day, we're just working to make this world a better place."

Nelson Mandela enjoying an adult beverage after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. (Photo: Getty)

In his old age, South African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela is apparently doing battle with wine writers rather than oppressive regimes. The Wall Street Journal was forced to run a correction to an article that ran last week about South African wines, which included a mistake about Mr. Mandela's drink choices.

The story, which was about reporter Lettie Teague learning to appreciate Pinotage, a varietal with roots in South Africa, included mentions of wines made by the House of Mandela, a winery "conceived of and led by the women of the Mandela family." For her story, Ms. Teague sampled some of the wine produced by the Mandela family winery and spoke with a "press representative" to see whether the family's patriarch enjoyed the winery's Pinotage's. Her initial report apparently erroneously said Mr. Mandela preferred another variety to the Pinotage, which prompted the following correction:

"Nelson Mandela doesn't now drink Pinotage or any other wine and preferred sweet wines from South Africa, such as Vin de Constance, when he drank wine. An earlier version of this column incorrectly said Mr. Mandela didn't love Pinotage, which his winery's representative hadn't been asked, and incorrectly said Vin de Constance had been his favorite."

While Politicker was rather amused to read the correction, we were also saddened to learn in the story that the 94-year-old Mr. Mandela "no longer drinks for health-related reasons." After 27 years in prison and decades spent fighting apartheid, we can think of few people more deserving of a drink.

Hakeem Jeffries addressing the crowd.

At a town hall last night in Bed-Stuy, congressional candidates Hakeem Jeffries and Charles Barron gave their pitches and took questions, striking familiar themes: Mr. Jeffries portrayed himself as a serious legislator while Mr. Barron proclaimed his ability to help lead a national movement to change the country.

As the two competitors spoke at different times in different rooms, they never interacted or had the opportunity to have a fiery back-and-forth, as already happened on Inside City Hall. However, both candidates did take identical questions on foreign policy, "especially related around Africa and the Caribbean," and their responses showed an interesting yet unsurprising divergence.

"This is a very diverse district and so there are going to be different parts of the district that have significant foreign policy interests," Mr. Jeffries noted, adding that Africa was dear to the heart of many residents in places like Bed-Stuy, the Caribbean was important to Canarsie and Flatlands, and, unprompted, stressed the importance of Israel as well.

"In the southern part of the district you have people who are rightfully concerned with making sure America continues its strong 60 year partnership and friendship with the State of Israel," he continued. "So there's a variety of foreign policy interests that are going to be important to the next member of Congress."

Israel, of course, has been a topic of high contention in this election. Indeed, yesterday morning, a coalition of elected officials gathered to denounce Mr. Barron's views on the subject in the harshest terms.

Accordingly, Mr. Barron did not bring up the country when asked about Africa and the Caribbean.

"Well that's going to be my Number One," he said. "And I thank you about that because some people want to talk about other countries."

Mr. Barron went on to speak at some length about the problems affecting Africa, while continuing to defend the record of leaders like Muammar Gaddafi and Robert Mugabe, something he's been criticized for in the past as he used to be an outspoken defendant of their regimes.

"The global economy is trouble and it all starts with Africa and the Caribbean and Latin America for me," he concluded.

After the candidate forum, we asked Mr. Jeffries if he felt some of the heavy rhetoric his supporters used against Mr. Barron on the Israel issue was appropriate. Among other things, Mr. Barron was called a "snake," "monster" and "anti-Semite" at yesterday's event.

"He's not a shy, bashful individual, I'm sure he will have the capacity to defend his record," Mr. Jeffries responded, adding, when pressed, "You're going to have to ask Councilman Barron that question."

Watch below:

Muammar Qaddafi speaking in Tripoli last March. (Getty)

A group of activists including City Councilman Charles Barron gathered in Bed Stuy Monday night to mourn the loss of the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, who was killed by rebels October 20. Qaddafi's death came after a NATO-backed revolution that ended his 42 year regime. Though Qaddafi was widely vilified for killing and torturing enemies during his reign, the group of mourners who eulogized him in Brooklyn last night hailed him as an African hero.

The Brooklyn Ink filed a dispatch from the Qaddafi event, which was held at a Nostrand Avenue jazz restaurant called Sistas' Place. It was organized by the "December 12th Movement," an anti-police brutality organization founded by the late Brooklyn community leader Sonny Carson. Speakers included Councilman Barron, members of the African Diaspora for Democracy and Development and Viola Plummer, who the Ink accurately described as, "a former City Council aide fired in 2007 after threatening the assassination of Councilman Leroy G. Comrie Jr.

“Out there, they don’t know that Qaddafi was our brother. … People say ‘Didn’t he kill all those people?’ I say, ‘I don’t know anything. The man was a freedom fighter,” Councilman Barron said exemplifying the pro-Qaddafi sentiment expressed at the event.

In January, members of the December 12th movement plan to hold a tribunal that will "put NATO on trial" for providing military support to the Libyan revolution, but they don't want to stop there. Last night in Brooklyn, Ms. Plummer encouraged members of the crowd to sign a petition calling for leaders responsible for Qaddafi's death to be put on trial in the International Criminal Court at The Hague.