OPPOSITION LEADER RAILA ODINGA AHEAD IN KENYA’S PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Sun 14 August 2022:

The veteran opposition leader won the presidential election in Kenya, according to official results. According to the Election Commission, with just over 26 per cent of votes, Odinga had 54 per cent and his opponent, William Ruto, had 45 per cent, pushing him to second position.

Both candidates are vying to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has completed his two-term mandate.

The election commission chairman, Wafula Chebukati, has been criticising the party agents for getting involved in the results before they include the final totals. He said, “Agents in this exercise cannot proceed … as if we are doing a forensic audit,” he told a news briefing on Friday. Chebukati further added, “We are not moving as fast as we should. This exercise needs to be concluded as soon as possible,” Reuetrs reported.

Reuters and many other media outlets have been tallying results forms from 291 constituencies from the commission’s website. As per Reuters tally, who counted till 241 forms, showed that Ruto had nearly 52.3 per cent of the vote in comparison to Odinga who had 47 per cent. The remaining 30 forms weren’t included because of the missing authentic details such as signatures, totals and constituency names. The two candidates had less than 1 per cent between them.

Kenyan election rules require that the forms be physically delivered to the national tallying center so that the representatives can inspect them for any irregularities. This technique is deemed safe in order to avoid the type of violence that occurred in previous elections in 2017 and 2007.

The public is still waiting for official vote tallying.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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