NAIROBI, Kenya — The head of Kenya’s electoral commission announced Monday that William Ruto, the country’s deputy president, has won the presidential election. But the validity of the result was called into question by a statement minutes earlier by the majority of election commissioners that they could not stand by the result. In a speech soon after the announcement, Mr Ruto said: “All sovereign power rests with the people of Kenya. I want to thank God for bringing us to this point. I want to thank God that today we completed these elections.” He called the vote “a very historic, democratic occasion that takes our country to the next level.” “I know many are wondering, especially those who have done many things against us, I want to tell them that they have nothing to fear,” he added. “There is no room for revenge, there is no room for looking back, we are looking to the future.” The election pitted two of the country’s political powerhouses against each other: Mr Ruto is the country’s deputy president, while Raila Odinga is a veteran opposition leader who has lost four previous elections. Kenya is East Africa’s largest economy and is vital not only to the region’s stability, but as a hub for trade and security. The presidential race, Kenya’s closest since the country’s first truly competitive election 20 years ago, is also being closely watched by Western and regional allies as a key test of democracy in one of Africa’s powerhouse nations. Mr Ruto, 55, also a wealthy businessman, cast himself as a champion of Kenya’s “rabble nation” – disaffected, mostly young campaigners struggling to gain ground. A vice-chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Juliana Cherera, speaking on behalf of four of the country’s seven commissioners, said the commission could not take over the results because of the “opaque nature” of the election’s handling. Celebrations erupted in the town of Eldoret, a Ruto stronghold, soon after the announcement, with a deafening cacophony of car and motorbike horns, whistles and shouts filling the streets of the city centre. The crowd waved posters of Mr Ruto’s face and wore yellow T-shirts and scarves in his party’s official colours. Many of the revelers also waved leaves of the sinendet plant, which the locals use to garland winners. “We won!” they screamed. “Ruto did it!” Declan Walsh and Matthew Mpoke Bigg reported from Nairobi and Abdi Latif Dahir from Eldoret, Kenya.
