Kenyans are anxiously waiting for the country’s electoral commission to confirm official results from Tuesday’s presidential election, as the two leading candidates appear neck-and-neck and supporters of both sides attempt to claim victory.
The official turnout — which involved voting for political seats at all levels — was 64.6 per cent, down from 79 per cent in 2017.
Some 22.1 million people out of Kenya’s population of roughly 55 million were eligible to vote, but a significant proportion of young Kenyans in particular did not register in the first place. Many told The Irish Times they were disillusioned and convinced that little would change, no matter who is in power. They listed their main concerns as youth unemployment, the soaring cost of everyday essentials, and endemic corruption, which outgoing Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has said costs the state upwards of two billion Kenyan shillings (€16.2 million) a day.
In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission called for “patience” as ballots need to be physically delivered to the national tallying centre to be verified. The commission said it would “endeavour to conclude this exercise at the earliest possible”.
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Handwritten totals for almost all of the more than 46,000 polling stations were posted online, leading various groups to attempt to add up the results themselves. The winner will be Kenya’s fifth-ever president, after a lead-up that saw broken friendships and shock alliances.
Long-time opposition figure Raila Odinga (77), affectionately called “Baba” by his supporters, is contesting for the fifth time, with senior counsel Martha Karua (64) as his running mate. If elected, Ms Karua will be the first woman deputy president in Kenya’s history.
Standing against them is current vice-president William Ruto (55), running alongside Rigathi Gachagua (57). Mr Ruto is a self-proclaimed “hustler” and one-time chicken seller.
Mr Odinga is the son of Kenya’s first vice-president. A Wednesday morning press conference called by his team, which led to speculation that he may allege there had been vote-rigging, didn’t go ahead.
Both Mr Odinga and Mr Ruto are among Kenya’s richest citizens.
This is the first presidential election without a leading candidate from the Kikuyu tribe, which has produced three out of four Kenyan presidents since independence. Both main candidates’ running mates, however, are Kikuyu.
In total, there were four candidates on the ballot paper for president. George Wajackoyah, a sexagenarian law professor, had proposed legalising marijuana for export, implementing a four-day working week and hanging people found guilty of corruption. Ordained minister David Waihiga suggested an extensive series of reforms to combat public graft and “fix the nation”.
The elected president will need more than 50 per cent of the overall vote, as well as 25 per cent in at least 24 of Kenya’s 47 counties.
On Wednesday, the streets of the capital, Nairobi, were quiet, with many residents opting to stay at home. Kenya’s government announced that schools would remain closed until August 15th, instead of August 11th as originally planned.
As tensions rise, messages of peace have been repeated by religious leaders from pulpits, YouTubers filming videos and musicians in songs. Though its population is young, most Kenyan voters remember the violence that broke out after the 2007 elections, when more than 1,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. It resulted in an International Criminal Court investigation which saw charges of crimes against humanity — later dropped or dismissed — brought against Mr Ruto and current president Mr Kenyatta.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the introduction of multiparty democracy in Kenya.
Though the country is in a dire position financially, with rocketing public debt in the tens of billions of euro, Kenya’s elections are said to be some of the most expensive in the world. For the 2022 election, the Kenyan government allocated 44.6 billion Kenyan shillings (€360 million), equating to roughly €16.30 per voter. The last elections in 2017 — which were run twice after a supreme court decision annulled the initial result — reportedly cost about €660 million.
