William Ruto, left, and his running mate Rigathi Gachaua, after he was declared the winner of Kenya’s presidential election in Nairobi on Monday. Credit… Tony Karumba/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s Vice President William Ruto has won the country’s presidential election, the head of the electoral commission said Monday, days after a vote in a country that is critical to its economy and security from East Africa.
Mr. Ruto won 50.5 percent of the vote, narrowly defeating Raila Odinga, a former prime minister, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula W. Chebukati said. This percentage is enough to avoid a second round.
But minutes before the result was announced, four of the seven commission members said they could not verify the result. The statement immediately raised questions about the legitimacy of the result, and is likely to feature in any challenge to Kenya’s Supreme Court by supporters of Mr. Odinga.
A legal challenge could, in the short term, prolong a period of uncertainty in a nation whose democracy is closely watched by the continent and the world.
Kenyan law allows an election result to be challenged within a week, a prospect many observers considered almost certain.
Shortly after the results were announced, Mr. Ruto gave a speech in which he accepted victory, thanked his supporters and pledged to work for the good of the country.
“There is no place for revenge, there is no place to look back, we are looking to the future,” he said. “I’m very aware that our country is at a stage where we need all hands on deck to move it forward. We don’t have the luxury of looking back.”
Celebrations erupted in the streets of Eldoret town, Mr Ruto’s stronghold in the Rift Valley, with a deafening cacophony of honking cars and motorbikes, whistles and shouts taking over the streets of the city centre.
William Ruto’s supporters in Eldoret celebrate the announcement of his victory. Credit… Brian Inganga/Associated Press
In subsequent statements to journalists, Mr. Ruto dismissed the statement by the four electoral commissioners as a “sideshow”. According to the law, he said, the election results could be declared by Mr. Chebukati and no one else.
“Legally, constitutionally, the four commissioners pose no threat to the legality of the declaration,” he said.
Mr. Ruto, 55, a wealthy businessman, has become the champion of Kenya’s “hustler nation” – the disillusioned, mostly struggling young people struggling to get a place. His announced victory appears to be a repudiation of his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, who had campaigned for Mr Odinga.
But there is now a question mark over the result because of the statement made by the vice president of the electoral commission, Juliana Cherera, moments before the election results were announced. He said he was speaking on behalf of four of the country’s seven commissioners who were unable to take charge of the results due to the “opaque nature” of the election management.
Supporters of presidential candidate Raila Odinga protest the results of Kenya’s general election in Kisumu. Credit… Yasuyoshi Chiba/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
In Kisumu County, a major stronghold of Mr. Odinga, hundreds of protesters anxiously awaiting the results announcement began demonstrating and burning tires, witnesses said.
For his part, Mr Odinga, who had run for the presidency four times before, had been exceptionally critical of the vote-counting process even before the results were declared.
“This was the most mismanaged election in Kenya’s history,” said Saitabao Ole Kanchory, Mr. Odinga, to journalists outside the national counting centre. He called the tallying center in Nairobi “a crime scene” and said those responsible for the tallying “must be arrested”. He had no immediate reaction to Mr Ruto’s victory declaration.
Defeat would also be a stinging blow to the region of Mr. Odinga in western Kenya, as well as for his fellow Luos. Many of them say that Luos have been unfairly excluded from the presidency since independence, and that Mr. Odinga was denied victory in 2007, when the vote count showed him leading, before he was eventually declared the loser.
Those elections sparked ethnic and political violence in which more than 1,200 people died and tens of thousands of others were forced to flee their homes.
Declan Walsh and Matthew Mpoke Bigg reported from Nairobi, and Abdi Latif Dahir from Eldoret, Kenya.