Kenyan media tallies of ballots from Tuesday’s presidential elections showed differing provisional counts, with the electoral authority yet to announce the official results.
The Nairobi-based Daily Nation newspaper put former prime minister Raila Odinga in the lead with 51.8% of the vote, compared with 47.5% for deputy president William Ruto on Thursday morning. Rival outlet Citizen had Ruto ahead with 49.8% and Odinga with 48.8%. Both publications have counted at least 10-million votes — turnout in the election is estimated at about 65% of the 22.1-million registered voters.
Kenyan publications are using forms digitally submitted by polling stations to the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission to compile their tallies. The IEBC has said it won’t publish any results until it has verified the original forms.
The presidential candidates must secure more than half of the valid votes cast and at least a quarter of the ballots in half of Kenya’s 47 counties to be declared the winner. If no candidate meets that threshold, a fresh election must be held within 30 days.
A decline in voter turnout reported by the IEBC may concern Ruto the most, Oxford economics said in a research note.
“The success of his presidential bid will be determined, in large part, by his campaign’s ability to turn out young and first-time voters,” it said. “Low voter registration among the youth already suggested that his anti-establishment messaging was struggling to gain traction among an increasingly disillusioned electorate.”
The electoral commission said the provisional turnout was lower than the 78% in 2017.
Earlier rights group Amnesty International and three other civil society organisations said disinformation being spread on social media platforms by camps allied to Odinga and Ruto was threatening the integrity of the election..
They urged the IEBC to provide “swift and regular” updates on the election results. “Only this will counter the rising tensions among the electorate, frequency of false and misleading information and will entrench trust among Kenyans at this significant time in our nation,” they said in a joint statement.
Landlocked Uganda had increased its fuel buffer to 100-million litres ahead of Kenya’s polls to avoid potential supply disruptions, as was the case in 2007 when election-related violence erupted in Kenya, the main conduit for its imports.
The east African country built stocks over three months through July sufficient to meet domestic demand for at least 10 days, according to Solomon Muyita, an energy ministry spokesperson.
Kenya’s police said on Wednesday that the country was relatively calm.
Kenya’s FTSE-NSE 25 Index gained 2.4% in Nairobi, the biggest intraday gain since June 29.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
Kenya elections: media counts differ with 10-million votes counted
Image: Bloomberg
Kenyan media tallies of ballots from Tuesday’s presidential elections showed differing provisional counts, with the electoral authority yet to announce the official results.
The Nairobi-based Daily Nation newspaper put former prime minister Raila Odinga in the lead with 51.8% of the vote, compared with 47.5% for deputy president William Ruto on Thursday morning. Rival outlet Citizen had Ruto ahead with 49.8% and Odinga with 48.8%. Both publications have counted at least 10-million votes — turnout in the election is estimated at about 65% of the 22.1-million registered voters.
Kenyan publications are using forms digitally submitted by polling stations to the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission to compile their tallies. The IEBC has said it won’t publish any results until it has verified the original forms.
The presidential candidates must secure more than half of the valid votes cast and at least a quarter of the ballots in half of Kenya’s 47 counties to be declared the winner. If no candidate meets that threshold, a fresh election must be held within 30 days.
A decline in voter turnout reported by the IEBC may concern Ruto the most, Oxford economics said in a research note.
“The success of his presidential bid will be determined, in large part, by his campaign’s ability to turn out young and first-time voters,” it said. “Low voter registration among the youth already suggested that his anti-establishment messaging was struggling to gain traction among an increasingly disillusioned electorate.”
The electoral commission said the provisional turnout was lower than the 78% in 2017.
Earlier rights group Amnesty International and three other civil society organisations said disinformation being spread on social media platforms by camps allied to Odinga and Ruto was threatening the integrity of the election..
They urged the IEBC to provide “swift and regular” updates on the election results. “Only this will counter the rising tensions among the electorate, frequency of false and misleading information and will entrench trust among Kenyans at this significant time in our nation,” they said in a joint statement.
Landlocked Uganda had increased its fuel buffer to 100-million litres ahead of Kenya’s polls to avoid potential supply disruptions, as was the case in 2007 when election-related violence erupted in Kenya, the main conduit for its imports.
The east African country built stocks over three months through July sufficient to meet domestic demand for at least 10 days, according to Solomon Muyita, an energy ministry spokesperson.
Kenya’s police said on Wednesday that the country was relatively calm.
Kenya’s FTSE-NSE 25 Index gained 2.4% in Nairobi, the biggest intraday gain since June 29.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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