Head of Kenya’s Election Body Declares William Ruto President Elect

Kenya’s Deputy President, William Ruto has been declared winner of the presidential election by the head of Kenya’s election body on Monday.

The declaration of Ruto as winner of the country’s close-fought presidential election is coming despite several electoral commissioners rejecting the results which the umpire announced in defiant.

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

Ruto becomes the fifth president-elect of Kenya.

The announcement of the long-awaited outcome of Kenya’s presidential vote had earlier been thrown into chaos on Monday after four out of seven election commissioners said they could not recognise the results.

“We cannot take ownership of the result that will be announced,” the IEBC vice chair Juliana Cherera told reporters.

She described the process as “opaque” but did not elaborate, saying further information would be given later.