Kenya election: William Ruto declared president

William Ruto was on Monday declared the winner of Kenya's hard-fought presidential election but the announcement was mired in controversy after several members of the election commission rejected the results.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati said Ruto had won almost 7.18 million votes (50.49 percent) in the August 9 vote, against 6.94 million (48.85 percent) for his rival Raila Odinga.

Shortly before his announcement, four out of seven IEBC commissioners said they could not recognize the results, raising rigging fears in the closely-watched poll in the East African political and economic powerhouse.

Ruto, 55, has been Kenya’s deputy president since 2013. Ruto founded the Y92 youth front, which propelled his political career during President Daniel arap Moy’s era.

Ruto is a rags-to-riches businessman who had characterized the election as a battle between ordinary "hustlers" and "dynasties" who had ruled Kenya since independence from Britain in 1963.

After the results were announced, he vowed to work with "all leaders" in Kenya.

"There is no room for vengeance," Ruto said, adding: "I am acutely aware that our country is at a stage where we need all hands on deck."

The outcome was a bitter blow for Odinga, the 77-year-old veteran opposition leader who weighted the ruling party behind him after forging a 2018 pact with outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta in a stunning shift of allegiances.

The days-long wait for the outcome of the race had already set the East African nation on edge. But in a shock announcement, IEBC vice chair Juliana Cherera told reporters that she and three of her colleagues could not "take ownership of the result that will be announced," calling the process "opaque."

As confusion reigned, scuffles broke out at the IEBC's heavily guarded national tallying center in Nairobi, where some people were seen throwing chairs shortly before Chebukati's announcement. Although last Tuesday's poll passed off largely peacefully in the regional political and economic powerhouse, memories of vote-rigging and deadly violence in 2007-08 and 2017 still loom large.

The IEBC had been under intense pressure to deliver a clean election after it faced stinging criticism for its handling of the 2017 election.

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