Kenya elections 2022: Raila Odinga and William Ruto in tight presidential race
With more than a third of the results from Kenya’s presidential election now confirmed, the two main candidates are running neck and neck.
Deputy President William Ruto has taken a slight lead over ex-Prime Minister Raila Odinga Deputy – 51% against 48%.
The head of the electoral commission has admitted that announcing the result of Tuesday’s election is too slow.
The verification of results has been stopped several times after complaints by supporters of the main candidates.
Mr Odinga’s supporters have disrupted the result verification process several times and accosted some of the electoral officials, accusing them of tampering with the vote.
Amid the melee, Mr Odinga’s chief campaign manager was able to get to the lectern used by top electoral commission officials, where he criticised the result verification process.
“I want to announce to the nation that Bomas of Kenya is a scene of crime” said Saitabao Ole Kanchory, before the microphone was switched off and he was led away. Bomas is the name of the cultural centre in the capital, Nairobi, which is being used as the main tallying centre.
Riot police have been deployed inside the building to reinforce security.
The results of 141 of the 292 constituencies have now been officially verified.
Agencies