LATEST PRESIDENTIAL RESULT FROM IEBC

Provisional results from vote counting in Kenya’s general election indicate Raila Odinga holds a slim lead with an estimated 5 million more votes to be counted.

As at about 4.00am, The Daily Nation tally indicated veteran opposition leader Odinga had about 5,090,491 of the votes so far counted, just about 300,000 ahead of Deputy President William Ruto at 4,773,169.

The Daily Nation provisional results are from about 10 million votes counted from 31,530 of 46,229 polling stations, and keep changing every minute as updates are registered. The election body IEBC is however the only one authorized to declare the final result.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said about 12 million (56.2%) of the 22.1 million registered had voted an hour to the close of polling, and indications are that it could have risen to about 15 million finally. On the other hand, diaspora voting also happened in 12 countries.

Kenya on Tuesday held its seventh general election since the introduction of multiparty politics in 1991 where  voters lined to elect the country’s fifth president, members of the National Assembly, senators, and county governors.

Kenyans are voting for 16,105 candidates, who are vying for a total of 1,879 elective positions.

The elections were hotly contested, with President Uhuru Kenyatta backing Azimio la Umoja (Resolution for Unity) One Kenya Coalition candidate Odinga. The President fell out with his deputy, Ruto of Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First) Alliance. ■

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