Kenya’s Raila Odinga has a slight lead in the presidential race according to early results
According to preliminary official results released on Saturday, former opposition leader Raila Odinga of Kenya is just ahead of incumbent Deputy President William Ruto in the contest for president.
According to numbers released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in the early afternoon based on results from around 30% of polling places, Odinga has 52.54 percent of the vote compared to Ruto’s 46.76 percent.
Kenyans have been waiting for the results for five days now; the nation is regarded as one of the most vibrant democracies in Africa.
With the backing of his longstanding rival, outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has already served two terms and is unable to run again, 77-year-old Raila Odinga is making his fifth attempt at the top job.
Ruto, 55, has served as vice president for for ten years, but following a shocking agreement between Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018, he was left out in the cold.
After pleading with the populace to exercise patience, the electoral commission recognized on Friday that the process of tallying the votes was going too slowly.
Additionally, it insisted that its systems were secure and denied any hacking of its results portal.
When television stations that had been giving continuous coverage of the election abruptly stopped airing provisional results on Thursday, Kenyans were left perplexed.
The election is being viewed as a test of the stability of the powerhouse in East Africa, which has witnessed previous elections rocked by violence and vote-rigging.
Despite the bitter and misinformation-filled protracted campaign, election day went off fairly calmly, according to impartial observers. However, there were some difficulties with the voting.
The winning candidate for president must receive 50 percent plus one vote, as well as at least 25 percent of the votes cast in 24 of Kenya’s 47 counties.
