In the early Monday afternoon everything seemed to be going according to plan. At 3 p.m. local time, it was announced, the Election Commission IEBC wanted to announce who had won the race for the presidency in Kenya. At this time, Kenyan television shows the first black limousines rolling towards the census center in Nairobi. Security guards in black suits trotted along to the left and right of the column. It is the entourage of William Ruto, 55, one of the two men running for the presidency.
The commentator now repeats very often that he has not yet seen the other candidate, Raila Odinga, 77, who is of course also invited to the announcement of the election results in Kenya’s capital. But Odinga is a long time coming and is nowhere to be seen. Which isn’t a good sign.
The Catholic bishops first read out an appeal on television not to allow themselves to be manipulated and incited, it is important to maintain calm and peace, maturity is required to secure Kenya’s future. Elections in this East African country are always moments of great tension. Disputes about the outcome have repeatedly led to deadly violence in the past. It was particularly bad after the 2007 vote, when at least 1,300 people died in unrest and hundreds of thousands were displaced across the country.
Odinga, 77, is making his fifth attempt at the presidency
At 3 p.m. local time on Monday, nothing happens, no one picks up the microphone on the green podium of the voting center, and some television stations pass the time with songs. Then suddenly there was a scandal: while the head of the electoral commission declared Ruto the winner with 50.5 percent, four members of the IEBC, including the vice-chairman, distanced themselves at the same time. They do not support this announcement, they announce.
This is exactly what happened that many Kenyans are particularly afraid of. Chaos has broken out in the voting center and the confusion is huge.
Ruto has previously been Vice-President alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta. He is no longer allowed to compete, but decided to support his rival Raila Odinga instead of Ruto. Odinga, 77, has made his fifth attempt to win a presidential election this year. Now, according to the announcement by the IEBC chairman, he is the underdog with 48.8 percent. But many wonder what that’s worth if a majority of the IEBC team doesn’t support it.
The Kenyans had to wait almost a week for this moment, they knew that this race would be close. The uncertainty grew from day to day as more and more unverified partial results circulated, sometimes showing one candidate and sometimes the other. The work of the electoral commission was repeatedly delayed by complaints from party representatives when verifying the documents.
After Ruto was proclaimed the winner, the first car tires burned in the Kibera slum, Odinga’s stronghold, in the evening, as Kenyan media reported. There were also protests in Kisumu. Ruto, on the other hand, was celebrated in parts of the Rift Valley.