Deputy President Willam Ruto has beaten his main rival Raila Odinga by a narrow margin to win the presidency in Kenya’s closet ever vote, this is according to the chairman of the electoral Commission (IEBC) Wafula Chebukati.
Ruto scored 50.49 percent of the vote garnering a total of 7,176,141 votes against Odiga’s who had 48.85 percent, equivalent to 6,942,930 votes. This is according to final figures from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commision (IEBC), which tallied and verified results from the 290 constituencies.
While announcing the President-Elect, Chebukati alleged that IEBC officials had on more than one occasion been hounded by unknown individuals who allegedly wanted to compromise the integrity of the election process.
“We have walked the journey of ensuring Kenyans get free, fair and credible elections. It’s not been an easy journey. Right now two of my commissioners and the CEO are injured; we have staff who have been profiled. There is a staff member who disappeared while on duty. We have staff who have been arbitrarily arrested for no reason and I don’t know where they are at the moment,” said Chebukati under tight security.
The election, which was held on Tuesday 9th August, has been closely watched by a team of electoral observers and international community as a test of stability in Kenya.
President-elect William Ruto has vowed to incorporate his competitors in his administration for oversight purposes after he was declared winner.
However, his win might face a legal challenge at the Supreme Court after four of the seven commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) addressed a press conference from the Serena Hotel and disowned the announced results.
‘We have done the 2022 general elections in the most effective and efficient manner and ensured all the challenges have been contained but some things need to be put out there,” said Juliana Cherera, IEBC’s Vice Chairperson who was accompanied by four of his colleagues.
She said they were rejecting the results announced at the Bomas of Kenya on Monday 15th August, due to what they termed was the opaqueness of the process during the final phase.
