With more than a third of the results from Kenya’s presidential election now confirmed, the two main candidates are running neck and neck.
Deputy President William Ruto has taken a slight lead over ex-Prime Minister Raila Odinga Deputy – 51% against 48%.
The head of the electoral commission has admitted that announcing the result of Tuesday’s election is too slow.
The verification of results has been stopped several times after complaints by supporters of the main candidates.
Mr Odinga’s supporters have disrupted the result verification process several times and accosted some of the electoral officials, accusing them of tampering with the vote.
Amid the melee, Mr Odinga’s chief campaign manager was able to get to the lectern used by top electoral commission officials, where he criticised the result verification process.
“I want to announce to the nation that Bomas of Kenya is a scene of crime” said Saitabao Ole Kanchory, before the microphone was switched off and he was led away. Bomas is the name of the cultural centre in the capital, Nairobi, which is being used as the main tallying centre.
Riot police have been deployed inside the building to reinforce security.
The results of 141 of the 292 constituencies have now been officially verified.
Previously, media organisations have been releasing provisional tallies using official data from the 46,000 polling stations. They also show a tight race between the two candidates.
About 14 million votes were cast – a turnout of 65%.
Kenya presidential results 2022
In order to win in the first round, a candidate must get 50% plus one of the cast vote and at least 25% of the votes in 24 out of 47 counties.
Provisional results from IEBC
| Candidates | Vote |
|---|---|
|
William Ruto
|
51.1%
6,395,857
|
|
Raila Odinga
|
48.2%
6,026,207
|
|
Other Candidates |
0.7%
84,502
|
The electoral commission has until Tuesday 16 August to declare the winner.
“It’s taking three to four hours” to process the result from a single constituency, he said. “Some of our returning officers have stayed here for three days sitting on chairs which is totally unacceptable.”
“We believe that this will fasten the process and we should be able to dispose of the returning officers in the course of today,” Mr Chebubati said.
Extra police officers have also been drafted in.
Media tallies of results from more than 46,000 polling stations – posted on the electoral commission’s website – have also caused some confusion in the country because the counts didn’t match.
Officials denied claims on social media that fake results had been posted after the system hosting the results was hacked.
“Nothing like that has happened. It is misinformation,” said the electoral commission’s CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan.
