Kenya: Vice president wins presidential election

Kenya: Vice president wins presidential election
Credit: Belga

Incumbent Vice-President William Ruto has won Kenya's presidential poll, held on 9 August, with 50.49% of the vote, Election Chairperson Wafula Chebukati said in a statement.

Ruto (55) received 7,176,141 votes, narrowly beating opposition leader and former prime minister Raila Odinga (77), who received 6,942,930 votes (48.85%). Ruto thus takes over from President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has led the East African country for more than 10 years.

Popular with tourists, Kenya is considered to be one of the most stable countries on the African continent. However, past elections have been marred by unrest and violence. In 2008, more than 1,000 people died in a wave of post-vote violence while there were also violent incidents in 2013 and 2017, due mainly to tensions between different ethnic groups.

The country has a population of 56.2 million, according to UN Population Fund figures for 2022, and a land area of 580, 367 square kilometres, just under 19 times the size of Belgium.


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