KENYA | Opposition's rejection of Kenya election results raises concern

Kenya’s  opposition leader Raila Odinga has rejected the results of presidential elections announced Monday, after a tightly contested poll which was narrowly won by incumbent Deputy President William Ruto.

The 77-year-old long-time opposition politician described the results as “null and void”. “We totally without reservation reject the presidential election results,” he said.

Odinga has accused the Chair of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of “blatant disregard of the constitution.”

Four members of the seven-member IEBC publicly dissociated themselves from the results soon after it was declared Monday, telling reporters they have nothing to do with an ‘opaque’ result. However they did not offer any explanations for their decision.

On Tuesday, however, Odinga rejected the presidential election results announced by the electoral body on Monday and vowed to pursue legal and constitutional means to overturn the declaration of the president-elect.

On Monday August 15, 2022, Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared Ruto winner

"Any challenge to results must be made within seven days to the Supreme Court, which then has 14 days to issue a ruling. If it orders an annulment, a new vote must be held within 60 days. If there is no court petition, Ruto will take the oath of office in two weeks' time, becoming Kenya's fifth president since independence," France 24 explained.                   

The 77-year-old Odinga garnered 6.94 million or 48.85 percent of the 14.1 million votes cast during the hotly contested polls, behind President-elect William Ruto who garnered 7.17 million or 50.49 percent of the total votes cast.                               

After the results of the presidential elections were declared, Kenyans took to the streets to stage protests in various locations. The street dispute between supporters of Odinga and followers of Ruto raised concern in an African country that still remembers the post-election protests in 2007, when violence between tribes left over 1,100 victims.

In his remarks after the announcement, Ruto said: “There are no losers. The people of Kenya have won because we raised the political bar.”

Ruto won against opposition leader Raila Odinga, with a narrow margin. He won a little more than seven million votes and Odinga got a little less than seven million, the IEBC announced.

On Wednesday, Western diplomats called on all political actors to embrace peace in the coming weeks after Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odingarejected the election results.

The envoys from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K. commended Kenyans for the peace displayed on election day, and the positive roles played by the electoral body, civil society, religious and business leaders, and the security sector.                                   

The envoys said in a joint statement issued in Nairobi that Kenya has set an example to the region and continent as a whole through their electoral process.

A member of the youth wing of Arap Moi’s KANU party, Ruto, 55 years old, joined politics in 1992. He was elected to parliament at his first attempt in 1997 as MP for the Eldoret North constituency.

Ruto served in various ministerial positions – including education, and later rose to become the Deputy President after the 2013 election.

Before joining outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta as the running mate, he had been on the opposite side of the political divide in the previous election.

The two formed an alliance of convenience, as they both had been charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with crimes against humanity when they were accused of fuelling violence in the aftermath of the heavily disputed 2007 election, in which about 1,200 people were killed. Ruto had backed opposition candidate Raila Odinga in that disputed election.

The Ruto, Kenyatta alliance broke in 2018, when the latter reconciled with Mr Odinga. That decision didn’t go down well with Ruto as he feared that he wouldn’t receive the outgoing president’s endorsement as his successor in this year’s election.

The President-elect is married to Rachael, and they have six children.