diff --git a/classes/Kohana/ORM.php b/classes/Kohana/ORM.php
index c96cda0..716e51d 100644
--- a/classes/Kohana/ORM.php
+++ b/classes/Kohana/ORM.php
@@ -1518,7 +1518,7 @@ public function count_relations($alias, $far_keys = NULL)
 	{
 		if ($far_keys === NULL)
 		{
-			return (int) DB::select(array('COUNT("*")', 'records_found'))
+			return (int) DB::select(array(DB::expr('COUNT(*)'), 'records_found'))
 				->from($this->_has_many[$alias]['through'])
 				->where($this->_has_many[$alias]['foreign_key'], '=', $this->pk())
 				->execute($this->_db)->get('records_found');
@@ -1533,7 +1533,7 @@ public function count_relations($alias, $far_keys = NULL)
 		if ( ! $far_keys OR ! $this->_loaded)
 			return 0;
 
-		$count = (int) DB::select(array('COUNT("*")', 'records_found'))
+		$count = (int) DB::select(array(DB::expr('COUNT(*)'), 'records_found'))
 			->from($this->_has_many[$alias]['through'])
 			->where($this->_has_many[$alias]['foreign_key'], '=', $this->pk())
 			->where($this->_has_many[$alias]['far_key'], 'IN', $far_keys)
@@ -1641,7 +1641,7 @@ public function count_all()
 		$this->_build(Database::SELECT);
 
 		$records = $this->_db_builder->from(array($this->_table_name, $this->_object_name))
-			->select(array('COUNT("*")', 'records_found'))
+			->select(array(DB::expr('COUNT(*)'), 'records_found'))
 			->execute($this->_db)
 			->get('records_found');
 
diff --git a/classes/Model/Auth/User.php b/classes/Model/Auth/User.php
index 746b34b..d86fae4 100644
--- a/classes/Model/Auth/User.php
+++ b/classes/Model/Auth/User.php
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ public function unique_key_exists($value, $field = NULL)
 			$field = $this->unique_key($value);
 		}
 
-		return (bool) DB::select(array('COUNT("*")', 'total_count'))
+		return (bool) DB::select(array(DB::expr('COUNT(*)'), 'total_count'))
 			->from($this->_table_name)
 			->where($field, '=', $value)
 			->where($this->_primary_key, '!=', $this->pk())