Africa Kenya elects new president in tight elections
The Electoral Commission of Kenya has declared
William Ruto, the current vice president, the winner of the elections
with 50.49% of the vote over candidate Raila Odinga, who received 48.85%.
"I am going to work with all the political leaders" in a "transparent, open and democratic" country, Ruto assured when his victory was announced.
After a week of recounts, in which
there have been few incidents
, the controversy has come when four of the seven commissioners questioned the result.
In any case, Ruto has been declared the winner with figures very similar to those indicated by the latest polls.
Before knowing the final decision,
supporters of Raila Odinga went up to the stage of the electoral center of Kenya
, about 10 kilometers from the center of Nairobi, and attacked those present in addition to breaking lecterns, decorations and sound equipment.
Meanwhile, the tent was opened in the same space,
a children's choir sang "for peace."
The ambitious Ruto, 55, has launched a campaign in recent years to fight an unexpected alliance between Kenyatta, the outgoing president, and his rival Odinga,
which sought to undermine his reputation.
The son of a modest Rift Valley family, later to become one of the country's first fortunes,
he likes to fit the narrative of a "self-made man"
who started from nothing and proclaimed himself the mouthpiece of the people against power.
Minutes before this announcement, four of the seven IEBC commissioners held a press conference at a hotel in the capital to announce
that they rejected these results under heavy police presence
and with the entire country pending the decision.
"Because of the opacity of the process (...) we cannot take responsibility for the results that are going to be announced," declared IEBC vice president Juliana Cherera, surrounded by three other commissioners.
He called on Kenyans to be "calm"
.
Outside there were also incidents.
The supporters of the loser set fire to containers and crossed barricades in the center of the city without, for the moment, causing deaths as in previous electoral processes,
with serious episodes of violence and hundreds of deaths.
"I want to become an instrument to bring peace, heal, unite and keep hope alive in our country," Odinga said at a religious ceremony in Nairobi a few days ago.
"The elections have been peaceful so far and we hope that peace will prevail once they are over," added the veteran politician.
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