Kenyans await news on the tight presidential election, which is marred by low turnout and misinformation.
Kenyans continue to gather around radios and televisions, growing increasingly anxious for news of who will be their next president three days after voting ended.
The country’s election commission (IEBC) has not released a running tally of results or stated when it plans to announce the winner, but unofficial and sometimes contradictory media counts show a razor-thin race.
Raila Odinga, the veteran opposition leader and former political prisoner, is running for president for the fifth time. He is neck and neck with the 55-year-old outgoing Deputy President William Ruto.
Kenyan media are compiling results from images of forms 34A uploaded to the commission’s website from more than 46,229 polling stations, a massive task that means their tallies differ and lag far behind the amount of raw data available on the commission’s website.
Concerned that those discrepancies will spark claims of rigging, which have resulted in deadly violence after recent ballots, many citizens are urging their fellow citizens to wait patiently for the official results after a largely peaceful election.
Hundreds of men backslapped each other outside a butcher’s shop in the western town of Eldoret as they crowded around to read the latest headlines and argue about the relative merits of Ruto and Odinga.
Nonetheless, citizens have expressed confidence in the commission’s ability to deliver a fair outcome.
The outcome of the 2022 election is also being closely watched in other countries.
Kenya has the richest economy in the region, is a stable nation in a volatile region, and is a close Western ally that hosts regional headquarters for Alphabet, Visa, and other international organizations.
Despite some last-minute printing issues, procedure changes, and inconsistencies in posting results, international observers are generally positive about the election.
