Amid chaotic scenes, Deputy President William Ruto was, on Monday, declared the winner of Kenya’s close-fought presidential election.
Several electoral commissioners rejected the results.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman, Wafula Chebukati, said Ruto won almost 7.18 million votes (50.49 per cent) against 6.94 million (48.85 per cent) for his rival, Raila Odinga, in the August 9 vote.
Ruto becomes the fifth president-elect of Kenya.
The announcement of the long-awaited outcome of Kenya’s presidential vote had earlier been thrown into chaos on Monday after four out of seven election commissioners said they could not recognise the results.
“We cannot take ownership of the result that will be announced,” the IEBC vice chair, Juliana Cherera, told reporters.
She described the process as “opaque” but did not elaborate, saying further information would be given later.
Diplomats and international election observers were whisked out of the tallying hall where the chairman of the electoral commission was preparing to announce the presidential results.
Kenya has a history of post-poll violence and slow progress by the electoral commission in tallying Tuesday’s vote has fed fears that the election will be disputed, leading to bloody scenes like those that followed presidential polls in 2007 and 2017.
