Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto has been elected as the country’s next President, the electoral commission announced Monday.
Ruto won with 50.49% of the vote, narrowly defeating veteran opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who was contesting his fifth election.
He will become Kenya’s fifth President since independence, winning the seat on his first attempt. Ruto’s party, the Kenya First coalition, has won a majority of seats in Kenya’s senate, the second highest in the National Assembly.
During a speech Monday, Ruto said: “It was God that brought us here … my team and I will make sure that the sacrifices made by many Kenyans is not in vain … we will not let them down. I am confident that this country will come together and we can move forward as one democratic nation.”
“I will run a transparent, open, democratic government and I will work with the opposition to the extent that they provide oversight over my administration,” he added.
Earlier Monday, his rival Odinga’s coalition rejected the election results before they had even been announced by Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Odinga’s chief agent Saitabao Kanchory told the press outside the national election center in Nairobi that they had not yet been able to cross verify the final result with their own tally.
The national tallying center briefly descended into chaos shortly after Odinga’s coalition rejected the results, with fighting breaking out and chairs being thrown in the building.
The country’s electoral commission was split, as four officials disowned the commission’s chairman Wafula Chebukati’s results, officials said at an earlier press conference.
The IEBC’s vice chair Juliana Cherera was among those disputing the results but provided no evidence of irregularities.
Analysts had predicted a win for Odinga, given his performance in opinion polls and the support he enjoyed from outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta.
But Ruto’s populist “man-of-the-people” approach, which rejected political dynasties and played on anti-elite sentiment in the country, endeared him to voters.
He was able to transcend Kenya’s traditionally dynastic politics to beat Odinga, the son of Kenya’s first vice president.
During the campaign, Ruto described himself as the “hustler-in-chief,” citing his humble beginnings as a chicken seller who fought his way up to the top of Kenyan politics.
