Kenya Elections 2022: Raila Odinga and William Ruto in tight race for president

Addis Ababa, August 9, 2022 (FBC) – Logistical delays and a failure of the identification kit in some parts of the country marred a largely peaceful election day in Kenya.

Polls are now officially closed but voting has been extended in places which opened late. This vote follows an intense campaign dominated by debates about living costs, unemployment and corruption.

The frontrunners for president are ex-Prime Minister Raila Odinga and current Deputy President William Ruto. Kenyans were also electing a new parliament and local administrations.

A top election official in Kenya’s central region of Nyeri told journalists that turnout has been low in that part of the country compared to 2017.

The counting of votes, which takes place at the polling stations, was expected to start soon after polls closed with officials prioritising collating presidential votes. When Mr Ruto voted in the town of Eldoret in the Rift Valley he pledged to accept the election result.

“I think for the first time in the history of multi-party democracy in Kenya, all the candidates have undertaken that they will accept the outcome of the results,” he told the BBC.