William Ruto has been pronounced with winner of Kenya’s presidential election.
The 55-year-old Kenya Kwanza frontrunner defeated the Uhuru-backed Raila Odinga, 77, – with Agano and Roots Party candidates David Mwaure and George Wajackoyah respectively conceding defeat on Sunday to endorse Ruto.
About 50.49 per cent of at least 14million Kenyans voted for Ruto in the decisive poll which now halts the ascendency of the Kenyatta-Odinga families since 1964 in the East African powerhouse. The IEBC data shows 48.5 per cent polled for Odinga.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) mid-morning Monday concluded verification of votes from 292 constituencies, ending a week-long anxious wait for results of the August 9 election.
All losing candidates, save for Azimio’s Odinga, sat amongst thousands in the spiritually-fired Bomas auditorium as IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati announced final results amid nationwide heightened security and a deserted capital, Nairobi.
Describing the IEBC tally centre as a “crime scene,” top Azimio leaders exited the auditorium by 5pm (EAT) –before results were announced- in the clearest signal of a looming appeal to the Supreme Court.
“We want to see and verify the results. We have intelligence reports that their system was penetrated and hacked. Some IEBC officials actually committed electoral offences and ought to have been arrested,” Odinga’s chief agent Saitabao Ole Kanchory said on Monday.
Several international observers say the poll mandating Kenya’s 5th head of state was largely peaceful in a country previously overrun by deadly post-election tribal clashes.
“We have learnt a lot from the elections in Kenya and will share the good example of real democracy, institutional credibility and upholding the rule of law to build the Africa we want,” they said at State House in Nairobi on Saturday.
Meantime, a 162-159 edge poised Azimio to control Kenya’s Parliament that comprises 349 elects although Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance led 24-23 in the Senate, according to official tallies.
