Yannick Izabayo
Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto has defied the odds by winning the fiercely contested presidential election in East Africa’s powerhouse.
His victory was narrow, stunning, and highly controversial as four of the seven members of the electoral commission rejected the result amid claims of rigging.
There were chaotic scenes inside the main tallying centre. Scuffles broke out around the podium as the head of the commission, Wafula Chebukati, was seemingly about to announce the results.
Mr Chebukati later returned to declare Mr Ruto the winner with 50.5% of the vote compared to the 48.8% of his main opponent Raila Odinga, and insisted that the election was free and fair.
The official results show that Mr Ruto gained ground in the strongholds of Mr Odinga. He also won by a landslide in Mount Kenya – the political heartland of Mr Odinga’s running-mate Martha Karua and the outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta.
This helped swing the election in Mr Ruto’s favour.
He was the underdog or, as he preferred to call himself, the “hustler”, fighting what he saw as an attempt by two of Kenya’s biggest political dynasties – the Odingas and Kenyattas – to hang on to power. This narrative struck a chord with many young Kenyans.
The 55 year old trailed in opinion polls, and faced a formidable opponent – Mr Odinga – who, in an extraordinary development, was backed by his long-time rival, President Kenyatta.
The president will now have to swallow his pride and hand over the reins of power to his deputy – a man he labelled during the campaign as “untrustworthy”.
All this is conditional on the result being genuine – and not rigged as Mr Odinga’s supporters allege.
Their position has been bolstered by the majority of election commissioners saying they cannot take “ownership” of the result, but Mr Chebukati was adamant that it reflected the will of Kenyans.
“I stand before you despite intimidation and harassment. I have done my duty according to the laws of the land,” Mr Chebukati said.
There is no doubt that Mr Ruto’s narrow margin of victory – and the split within the commission – shows that the nation is divided.
How Mr Ruto constitutes his government will determine whether the country will be reunited.
With ethnicity a major factor in Kenyan politics, Mr Ruto will have to ensure his government is representative of Kenya’s main ethnic groups – especially the Luo community of Mr Odinga.
A Luo has never occupied the presidency in Kenya’s history, and the community is bound to feel marginalised and aggrieved following the declaration that Mr Ruto – who comes from the Kalenjin ethnic group – had won.
Mr Ruto was magnanimous in his victory speech, saying he would work with “all leaders” and would strive to ensure the nation was “united and prosperous”.
He said he had reached out to Mr Odinga before the announcement and they agreed that whatever the outcome, they should have a conversation.
Mr Odinga has not yet spoken, but he stayed away from the official announcement of the result.
It is not yet clear whether he will challenge the result in court, as he has done in the past.
He has lost four previous elections. This was seen as his best chance of winning as Mr Kenyatta campaigned heavily for him, urging voters not to cast their ballots for Mr Ruto.
Mr Kenyatta conceded during the campaign that he had broken a pact to back Mr Ruto in this election. He justified it by comparing his deputy to a co-driver who threw things out of a vehicle while the driver was busy steering it.
As far as Mr Ruto is concerned, Mr Kenyatta campaigned for Mr Odinga because he wanted a “puppet president”.
Aged 77, it is unclear whether Mr Odinga will run for the presidency for a sixth time in the next election in 2027.
Mr Ruto, one of the country’s biggest maize farmers, has won at his first stab at the presidency – and will be Kenya’s second-youngest president after President Kenyatta won in 2013 aged 50.
He is a powerful orator – becoming involved in politics two decades ago in the youth wing of the then-ruling party – and drew huge crowds during the campaign.
He has managed to eat into Mr Odinga’s strongholds in the coastal, western and north-eastern parts of the country.
His victory is all the more remarkable as he won by a landslide in Mr Kenyatta’s backyard of Mount Kenya, the heartland of the Kikuyu people who are the largest voting bloc in Kenya.
Mr Ruto’s party also took a huge majority of seats in the region in elections for parliament, the senate and the governor’s post, ousting Mr Kenyatta’s Jubilee party.
In the presidential vote, he even trounced Mr Odinga in the constituencies of both Ms Karua and Mr Kenyatta.
Supporters of Mr Ruto in Mount Kenya who spoke to the BBC before the elections said they felt the need to honour the 2013 pact to pay back his backing for their son Mr Kenyatta.
It is a humiliating setback for Mr Kenyatta, who now leaves office with his reputation tarnished among his own Kikuyu people.
His own cousin, who chairs an association of elders, said they would back Mr Ruto.
The win will be lauded by many young people, who formed the majority of his support-base.
Mr Ruto coined the phrase “Hustler Nation” to refer to the young people struggling to make ends meet, and promised a “bottom-up approach” to the economy, saying it will benefit the poor.
He will now have to deliver on his promise.
It will be a difficult task as the official rate of unemployment among those aged between 18 and 34 years is nearly 40%, and the economy is not creating enough jobs to absorb the 800,000 young people joining the workforce every year.
- WILLIAM RUTO: A profile of Kenya’s next president
- RUTO HEARTLAND: Why Kenyan farmers like a man with big ambitions
- UHURU KENYATTA: How Kenya’s president divided his people
- CONTEXT: Seven charts that explain Kenya
- READ MORE: Full coverage
Hi, I log on to your blog on a regular basis. Your humoristic style is awesome, keep it up!
What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively useful and it has helped me out
loads. I am hoping to give a contribution & help different users
like its aided me. Good job.
my web site – Slot
hello there and thank you for your information – I have certainly picked up something new from right
here. I did however expertise some technical issues using this
site, as I experienced to reload the website lots of times previous to I could get it to load correctly.
I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will
often affect your placement in google and can damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords.
Well I am adding this RSS to my email and could
look out for much more of your respective fascinating content.
Ensure that you update this again very soon.
My web site: Winslot88
Hi would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using?
I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most.
Can you recommend a good hosting provider at a reasonable price?
Thanks, I appreciate it!
Also visit my site – Winslot88
Hey there! I just want to give you a huge thumbs up for the great info you have got here on this post.
I am returning to your website for more soon.
my web page … Slot
Attractive element of content. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to say that
I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts.
Anyway I’ll be subscribing on your augment and even I
success you get admission to consistently rapidly.
my web site; staging.cirms.org
이렇게 좋은 정보 들어서 너무 감사해요.
저는 먹튀사이트 조회 를 소개하고 싶은데 한번 봐주시겠어요?
I know this web site offers quality depending content and other stuff, is there any other web page which
presents these kinds of data in quality?
My blog … https://rdvs.workmaster.ch
If you would like to obtain a great deal from this paragraph then you have to apply these strategies to your
won web site.
Also visit my web site – Mesin 138
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added”
checkbox and now each time a comment is added I
get several e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
Many thanks!
Review my blog post … Slot Online
Thanks for finally writing about > Kenya election result:
William Ruto defies the odds for victory – Afriquela1ère Slot
Wow, marvelous blog layout! How lengthy have you been running a blog for?
you make running a blog glance easy. The total glance of your site is excellent, let alone the content material!
Feel free to visit my web page Mesin 138
It’s amazing to pay a quick visit this web site and reading the
views of all colleagues on the topic of this
piece of writing, while I am also eager of getting know-how.
my blog :: Mesin 138
Ótimo artigo Eu aprendo algo novo nas minhas leituras.
Sempre é interessante ler o artigo de outras pessoas e por em
prática algumas coisas .
It’s an awesome piece of writing in favor of all the web
viewers; they will take advantage from it I am sure.
I used to be able to find good advice from your blog articles.
Oz.– Midnight Bloom is a physique mist from Victoria’s Secret that sort of splits the line between Cloud and BR 540.
My blog Roman
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and
wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your
blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again very soon!
Great goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely
excellent. I really like what you’ve acquired here, really like what you are stating and the way in which
you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care of
to keep it wise. I can not wait to read far more from
you. This is actually a terrific website.
It’s really a great and helpful piece of information. I am glad
that you just shared this useful information with us.
Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
This is my first time pay a quick visit at here and i am truly pleassant to read all at
single place.
Also visit my web page … slot 777
It’s really a cool and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you simply shared this helpful information with us.
Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
Also visit my blog post: slot 777
I’ve been surfing online greater than three hours lately, yet I by
no means discovered any attention-grabbing article like
yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content material as you probably did,
the net will be a lot more helpful than ever before.
great post, very informative. I wonder why the opposite specialists of this sector don’t
realize this. You must proceed your writing. I am confident, you have a huge readers’ base already!
Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with the images on this blog loading?
I’m trying to find out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Here is my web page nexus slot online
Hello, Neat post. There’s an issue together with your web site in internet explorer,
could check this? IE still is the market chief and a big element of other folks will omit your great writing due to this problem.
Hello, always i used to check blog posts here in the early hours in the dawn, for the reason that i
enjoy to find out more and more.
Hello, just wanted to mention, I loved this post. It was practical.
Keep on posting!
bossa nova jazz
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your site?
My website is in the very same area of interest as yours and my users would certainly benefit from some of the information you present here.
Please let me know if this alright with you.
Thanks!
Join the quest and explore uncharted territories! Hawkplay