According to official results announced by Kenyan media on Sunday, Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto has moved ahead in a close presidential contest, as extra riot police were deployed inside the national election counting centre following scuffles and complaints by party agents.
The scuffle highlighted frayed tempers and heightened tensions within the national counting hall as the country awaits official election results from last Tuesday. Citizens took witty digs at the chaos online, pointing out that the rest of the country is calmly waiting.
Official certified results provided by the Nation media group showed Ruto receiving 51% of the vote, ahead of left-leaning opposition leader Raila Odinga, who received 48%.
Confusion about vote tallying in the media, as well as the electoral commission’s sluggish pace of development, have fueled worry in Kenya, the richest and most peaceful country in East Africa, but which has a history of unrest after contested elections.
On Sunday, Reuters was unable to obtain access to the official running vote tally for the presidential election. A live broadcast of the results at the national tallying centre had vanished hours before.
When queried about the tally, a commission spokesman pointed Reuters to the live broadcast. Other election authorities stated they couldn’t offer the information.
Officially confirmed figures from Saturday, with slightly more than a quarter of the ballots counted, showed Odinga with 54% of the vote and Ruto with 45%.
The winner must get 50% of the votes cast plus one. The commission has seven days from the date of the voting to announce the winners.
At 1800 GMT on Sunday, a Reuters calculation of 263 out of 291 preliminary constituency-level results showed Ruto with slightly under 52% and Odinga with 47.5%. Two small candidates each received less than 1% of the vote.
Reuters excluded 19 forms from the tally because they were missing signatures, totals, were illegible, or had other issues.
The preliminary tally is based on forms that may be revised if any inconsistencies are detected throughout the formal verification procedure.
The numerous checks and balances are intended to avoid the type of rigging charges that sparked unrest in 2007, when over 1,200 people were killed, and in 2017, when over 100 people were killed.
