Deputy chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Border Commission, Juliana Cherera, and three other commissioners rejected the results Kenyan presidential election results just before it was announced on Monday.

“We are not able to take ownership of the results that will be announced,’’ Juliana Cherera, the deputy chairperson of the electoral commission told a media briefing at a different venue from where the announcement was to be made.

Ms Cherera alleged that the latter stages of the results collation had been done “opaquely.”

Nonetheless, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati went on to declare Deputy President William Ruto as the winner of the keenly contested race.

Mr Ruto scored 50.49 per cent of votes as against veteran contender Raila Odinga’s 48.85 per cent, per official results announced by Mr Chebukatu as the Bomas of Kenya venue of the declaration.

It took a week for the electoral body to tally results from across the country’s 47 counties.

However, Kenya has a history of post-poll violence and slow progress by the electoral commission in tallying Tuesday’s vote has fed fears that the election will be disputed, leading to bloody scenes like those that followed presidential polls in 2007 and 2017. 

Diplomats and international election observers were whisked out of the tallying hall where the chairman of the electoral commission was preparing to announce the presidential results.

Most parts of the country have, however, remained peaceful since the announcement of Mr Ruto as president-elect as his supporters trooped to the streets in celebration.

(Reuters/NAN)