Kenya’s electoral commission has announced deputy president, William Ruto as the winner of the presidential election.
Ruto narrowly edged his rival, Raila Odinga in a keenly contested elections in which vote counting lasted for days.
Reports have it that four of the seven members of the electoral commission refused to endorse the announcement, calling the results “opaque”.
Juliana Cherera, the vice-chairperson of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said “We cannot take ownership of the result that is going to be announced because of the opaque nature of this last phase of the general election.
“We are going to give a comprehensive statement… and again we urge Kenyans to keep calm.
“There is an open door that people can go to court and the rule of law will prevail”.
Prior to the announcement, Odinga’s party agent had alleged that there were “irregularities” and “mismanagement” in the election.
In his post victory speech, Ruto said “There are no losers. The people of Kenya have won because we raised the political bar
“There is no looking back, we are looking to the future, we need all hands on deck to move forward.”
It should be noted that the president-elect has served as deputy president for 10 years, but fell out with President Uhuru Kenyatta, who backed Odinga to succeed him.
