Soldiers maintain a security chain around Electoral Commission staff reviewing the results of the just-concluded presidential election in Nairobi on August 14, 2022. TONY KARUMBA / AFP
Since Tuesday’s vote, Kenyans have been holding their breath ahead of what could become one of the closest presidential duels in the country’s history. Sunday August 14 morning, after the independent electoral commission had counted almost half of the polling stations, Vice-President William Ruto led this duel with 51.25% of the votes against 48.09% for Raila Odinga, historical figure of the opposition who today supported by outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta. As a result, the commission interrupted the live transmission of the results without giving an explanation.
But the Daily Nation newspaper’s tally, based on official data from nearly 90% of polling stations, showed a drastically reduced difference in the evening as Mr Ruto received 49.91% of the vote against 49.41% for Mr Odinga – the other two candidates (George Wajackoyah and David Waihiga) each win less than 0.5% of the vote. If neither of the first two candidates gets more than 50% of the vote, as well as 25% of the vote in half of the 47 districts, Kenya will – for the first time in its history – have a second round.
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Patience unanimously welcomed
The patience of Kenyans is unanimously applauded in a country that in recent decades has endured several episodes of post-election tension and violence, sometimes bloody.
Sunday, Messrs. Ruto and Odinga visited churches in the capital, Nairobi. Mr Ruto, wearing a white shirt and light jacket, called for the electoral process to continue peacefully during a service: “We voted peacefully, we went through this process peacefully and my prayer is that we end this process peacefully. »
Mr Odinga, clad in a blue tunic, the color of his campaign, recited a prayer from Saint Francis: “I want to become an instrument to bring peace, heal, unite and keep hope alive in our country. »
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Elsewhere, Sunday services, so popular in this religious country, have prompted appeals to accountability. When the results were announced, “do not create trouble or chaos, but pray for the new President God has given us,” Bishop Washington Ogonyo Ngede launched in front of three hundred faithful gathered in Kisumu, Mr Odinga’s stronghold in the west of the country. “Leaders come and go, but Kenya lives forever,” added this longtime friend of the Odinga family.
In Eldoret, Mr Ruto’s Rift Valley stronghold, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese Dominic Kimengich also called for calm and urged politicians to be “very careful with their words”.
“We have experienced this as Kenyans, we know that any inconsiderate remark (…) can easily spark a conflict,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP) before a fair in the Yamumbi municipality. He urged politicians to “accept the will of the people” expressed at the ballot box.
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List of elected women
Based on the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken Saturday on Twitter some fifteen non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Amnesty International, and trade unions called for “patience” on Sunday.
“We applaud the Kenyans for their peaceful conduct during the elections and call for calm while the results are reviewed,” the statement said.
Around 22.1 million voters were called to the polls on Tuesday to nominate President Uhuru Kenyatta’s successor and their governors, parliamentarians and elected local officials. The results of the local polls are dropping drop by drop. You don’t say which camp will inspire the parliamentary majority, but a historic breakthrough for women is already on the horizon.
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The electoral commission is therefore under pressure. Not only because the country, East Africa’s economic engine, is idly waiting for the results, but also because it was heavily criticized five years ago after a presidential election that was declared invalid by the Supreme Court. On Friday, she acknowledged that collecting, counting and verifying the results took longer than expected and was slowed down by interference from political party supporters, she said.
This election is being closely monitored by the international community. Indeed, Kenya is a democratic anchor in the region, and the results of every presidential election there since 2002 have been contested.
The August 9 election was marked by a turnout of around 65% (up from 78% in August 2017), amid rising inflation and frustration with the political elite.
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