Nairobi, Kenya
CNN
—
Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto has been elected as the country’s next president, the electoral commission announced on Monday.
Ruto won with 50.49% of the vote, narrowly defeating veteran opposition leader and former prime minister Raila Odinga, who was running for his fifth election.
He will become Kenya’s fifth president since independence, winning the seat in his first attempt. Ruto’s party, the Kenya First coalition, has won the majority of seats in Kenya’s senate, the second highest in the National Assembly.
The announcement of the results was delayed more than two hours past the constitutional deadline and the country’s electoral commission was divided, after four officials disowned the commission’s chairman Wafula Chebukati’s results.
Opposing officials held their own press conference elsewhere disputing the official results. IEBC deputy chairperson Juliana Cherera was among those who disagreed with the results, but did not provide evidence of irregularities.
Earlier on Monday, Ruto’s rival Odinga’s coalition also rejected the election results before they were announced by Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Odinga’s chief agent, Saitabao Kanchory, told the press outside the national election center in Nairobi that they had not yet been able to check the final result with their own account.
“Once we see them, we want to verify them, when we verify them, we will be able to know and tell the Kenyan people, because a result that is not verifiable is not a result.” Kanchory told reporters awaiting the announcement of the results.
The national tallying center briefly descended into chaos shortly after Odinga’s coalition rejected the results, with fights breaking out and chairs being thrown into the building.
Ruto thanked the people of Kenya for voting him as the country’s next leader in his first speech after the election winner was announced.
“There are no losers in these elections. The people of Kenya have won because we have raised the political bar. The Kenyan people are the biggest winners,” he said
He expressed his “gratitude” to the citizens of Kenya “who refused to be boxed into tribal cocoons”.
He also thanked his competitor and veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, saying: “We dwelled on the issues and tried to sell an agenda to the people of Kenya during the campaign.”
“It was God who brought us here… my team and I will ensure that the sacrifices made by many Kenyans are not in vain… I will lead a transparent, open and democratic government and work with the opposition as far as that they oversee my administration,” he added.
There was a divided response to the results of Kenya’s presidential election on Monday evening. In Eldoret, live footage from Ruto’s hometown showed large crowds celebrating and cheering his victory.
But in Kisumu, Odinga’s stronghold, protests erupted. Live footage showed scores protesting the election results, burning tires and smoke billowing into the air.
Also Odinga’s running mate, Martha Karua took to Twitter after the results were announced and said, “It’s not over until it’s over.”
Analysts had predicted a win for Odinga, given his performance opinion polls and the support he enjoyed from outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta.
But Ruto’s populist “man of the people” approach, rejecting political dynasties and playing on anti-elite sentiment in the country, endeared him to voters.
He was able to transcend Kenya’s traditional dynastic politics to defeat Odinga, the son of Kenya’s first vice president.
During the campaign, Ruto described himself as the “promoter-in-chief”, citing his humble beginnings as a chicken seller who fought his way to the top of Kenyan politics.
Political analyst Herman Manyora told CNN before the election that “Ruto has excited the youth…almost in a euphoric sense.”
Ruto, a former professor who holds a doctorate in plant ecology from the University of Nairobi, has pledged to prioritize Kenya’s economy and “uplift ordinary citizens” as president.
He will be pressed to come up with solutions to Kenya’s pressing economic problems, including mounting debt, high food and fuel prices and massive youth unemployment.
Ruto has a long and checkered history in Kenyan politics and was also tried alongside President Kenyatta in 2013 at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for alleged crimes against humanity following deadly election violence in 2007. However , the charges were later dropped.
