Last week, millions of Kenyans exercised their democratic rights and voted for their next round of political leadership.
But today, as chairs and tables were tossed and thrown across the National Counting Center in Nairobi, hopes for a smooth and successful electoral process were sadly shattered.
The race between former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and current Vice President William Ruto has been incredibly tight.
Public tallies of electronically uploaded vote tallies from more than 46,200 polling places across the country alternated between the two favorites for days.
Last night Mr Ruto seemed to be leading by a few hundred thousand votes.
Today, three different choirs sang tunes of Kenyan pride as the nation came together to learn the final outcome of the presidential race.
As the hour of the announcement came and went, whispers swirled about an informal press conference outside the center.
Mr. Odinga’s main electoral liaison officially rejected the vote verification process carried out by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
“We have intelligence reports that their system was penetrated and hacked, and that some of the IEBC officials actually committed election offenses and some of them should have been arrested had they not been arrested,” Saitabao Ole Kanchory said.
Soon after, four out of seven election commissioners disavowed the final results and called the tally “opaque”.
Validated by public denunciation, members of Mr. Odinga’s Azimio party took action inside the centre.
The anxiety of the six-day wait finally erupted into chaos, as the choir continued to sing.
Chairs were thrown, tables overturned and a lectern lifted and thrown from above. All hell broke loose as Azimio loyalists waved their arms in an ‘X’ sign towards a balcony of reporters.
Their rejection of the upcoming announcement was clear – even as riot police put them down. Force met force, as dissidents were trampled and escorted out of the center to cheers from members of Mr Ruto’s UDA party.
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The frenzy gave way to an eerie calm and soon after, Mr Ruto arrived to cheers from his party and stunned election observers.
A short tongue-in-cheek prayer on peace and healing featured IEBC President Wafula Chebukati, who cut to the chase.
“I, Wafula Chebukati, Chairman of the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission, do hereby declare that Ruto William Samoei…is newly elected President of the Republic of Kenya,” he said.
Mr Ruto won with 50.49% of the votes cast – 7,176,141 ballots – according to IEBC results.
Protests raged in Mr Odinga’s Nairobi stronghold of Kibera. In the port city of Kisumu, police used tear gas to disperse protesters.
Celebrations erupted in Mr. Ruto’s hometown of El-Doret and in parts of the capital.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Ruto thanked his “worthy adversary” Mr Odinga and “boss” current President Uhuru Kenyatta and former ally turned enemy. The two men have not yet commented on the result.
The answer came from Martha Karua, Mr Odinga’s running mate, who was to become Kenya’s first female vice-president.
“It’s not over til it’s over,” read her tweet.
I asked Mr. Ruto about the tweet at a press conference shortly after his declared victory.
“How will you react to a contested election result? »
“This election, to the best of our knowledge and understanding, is over,” he replied.
