Kenya: Various provisional counts of votes cast in Kenya's presidential election on Tuesday were reported by the media, and the Election Commission has yet to make any official results public. On Thursday morning, the Nairobi-based Daily Nation newspaper reported that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga had 51.8% of the votes of Vice President William Ruto's 47.5%.
According to Competitor Citizen, Ruto was ahead with 49.8% of the vote compared to Odinga's 48.8%. Voting in the election is estimated to be around 65% of the 22.1 million registered voters after both publications counted at least 10 million votes.
Kenyan media outlets compile their results using forms submitted digitally by polling places to the Free Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). IEBC has said that it will not publish any results until the original forms are verified.
To be declared winners, presidential candidates must obtain more than 50% of the valid votes cast and at least 25% of the votes cast in each of Kenya's 47 counties. A new election must take place within 30 days if a candidate does not meet that requirement.
According to a research note by Oxford Economics, Ruto may be most concerned about the drop in voter turnout, as the IEBC reports.
It added that "the success of his campaign will be largely determined by his ability to drive out young and first-time voters." Low youth voter registration had already indicated that his anti-establishment message was having trouble gaining traction among an electorate who was becoming more and more disillusioned.
According to a statement from Amnesty International and three other civil society organizations, the integrity of the election is at risk due to misinformation being spread on social media by camps supporting Odinga and Ruto.
He requested the IEBC to have "fast and regular" updates on the election results. In a joint statement, they claimed that "only this will counter rising tensions among voters, the frequency of false and misleading information, and strengthen trust among Kenyans at this critical time in our country."
According to the Election Commission, 65.4 per cent of the 22.1 million voters registered on Tuesday voted. This is still less than 78 percent compared to 2017.
According to information on its website, the organization has received about 98% of the so-called Form 34A, which is used to tabulate the results of the presidential election, from 46,229 polling places. 34As have been delivered digitally to the commission, and it is now Physical copies are awaited, which are required for result verification. Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati said at a briefing that the agency had not yet received any physical documents.
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