NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya’s vice president, William Ruto, has won the country’s presidential election, the head of the electoral commission said on Monday, days after a bitter vote in one country. vital to the economy and security of East Africa.
Mr. Ruto won 50.5% of the vote, narrowly defeating Raila Odinga, former prime minister, Chairman of the Commission on Boundaries and Independent Elections, said Wafula W. Chebukati. That percentage is enough to prevent a vote overflow.
But minutes before the results were announced, four of the seven committee members said they could not verify the results. The statement raises questions about the legitimacy of the result and is likely to cause any challenge in the Supreme Court of Kenya by Mr Odinga’s supporters.
A legal challenge could, in the short term, prolong a period of unrest in a country whose democracy is closely watched by the continent and the world.
Kenyan law allows election results to be checked within a week – a prospect many observers consider almost certain.
Immediately after the results were announced, Mr. Ruto accepted the victory, thanked his supporters and vowed to work for the good of the country.
“There’s no room for revenge, no room for looking back, we’re looking to the future,” he said. “I am acutely aware that our country is at a stage where we need all of us to move forward. We don’t have the luxury to look back on the past.”
Celebrations erupted in the streets of the town of Eldoret, Mr. Ruto’s stronghold in the Rift Valley, with the honking of cars and motorbike horns, whistling and shouting in the streets of the downtown area. city.
Speaking later, Mr Ruto dismissed the four election commissioners’ claims as a “sideshow”. By law, he said, election results can only be announced by Mr. Chebukati.
“Legally, constitutionally, the four commissioners pose no threat to the legitimacy of the declaration,” he said.
His camp noted that four people – Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi, Justus Abonyo Nyang’aya and Irene Cherop Masit – were appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta, who had lobbied for Mr. Odinga.
Mr. Ruto, 55, a wealthy businessman, has established himself as the champion of the “hustle nation” of Kenya – disillusioned, mostly young people struggling for a foothold.
A question is now raised about the results because of the statement made by the deputy chairwoman of the electoral commission, Ms. Cherera, just before the election results were announced. She said the four commissioners could not take ownership of the results because of the “unclear nature” of the election’s handling.
Late Monday, Mr. Odinga’s spokesman, Dennis Onsarigo, wrote on Twitter which the former prime minister was scheduled to address the nation on Tuesday.
Odinga’s supporters began protesting after the announcement. In Kisumu district, a major stronghold of Mr. Odinga, hundreds of people began protesting and burned tires, witnesses said.
Mr. Odinga, who has run for president another four times, was particularly critical of the counting process even before the results were announced.
“This is the most mismanaged election in Kenya’s history,” Saitabao Ole Kanchory, Mr. Odinga’s electoral representative, told reporters outside the national vote counting center. He called the tally center in Nairobi a “crime scene” and said those in charge of the tally “must be arrested”.
In a statement, the US Embassy in Nairobi welcomed the “peaceful and orderly counting and voting process”. It called Mr Ruto’s declaration of victory a “major milestone in the electoral process” and urged the peaceful resolution of any remaining concerns.
The defeat was clearly a blow to Mr Odinga’s hometown of western Kenya, as well as to fellow Luos, the country’s fourth-largest ethnic group. Many Luos say they have been unjustly removed from the presidency since independence, and Mr Odinga was denied victory in 2007, when the vote tally showed him in the lead before he was acquitted. Dad is a loser.
That election resulted in violence that left more than 1,200 people dead and tens of thousands more displaced.
Declan Walsh and Matthew Mpoke Bigg reported from Nairobi, and Abdi Latif Dahir from Eldoret, Kenya.
