Official Declares Ruto Kenya’s President but Questions Remain

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Official Declares Ruto Kenya’s President but Questions Remain

Kenya's election chief has declared Deputy President William Ruto the winner of the close presidential election in the east African country. But four other top election officials said they disowned the result.

Electoral commission chair Wafula Chebukati announced on Monday that Ruto won with 50.49 percent of the vote over 48.85 percent for Raila Odinga. As Chebukati announced the vote count, police stepped in to restore order as two election commissioners¹ were injured because of shouting and fighting. The close election was held nearly a week ago.

Just minutes before the announcement, the commission's vice² chair and three other election commissioners told reporters they could not support the "opaque³ nature" of the vote counting process. "We cannot take ownership of the result that is going to be announced," vice chair Juliana Cherera said, without giving details. A representative for Odinga also called the vote counting process "illegal" and claimed "electoral offenses⁴" without giving evidence.

The 77-year-old Odinga is backed by outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta over Ruto. Now Kenyans will have to wait and see whether Odinga will again contest the results of Tuesday's election in court. The candidates and their supporters have seven days to dispute the election results. The Supreme⁵ Court will have 14 days to rule.

Ruto thanked supporters

The 55-year-old Ruto tried to appeal to struggling Kenyans with messages on the economy over tribal⁶ loyalties⁷. He told voters that the election was between outsiders like himself over the "dynasties" of Kenyatta and Odinga. Their fathers were Kenya's first president and vice president. Odinga has sought the presidency⁸ for 25 years.

Both candidates said they wanted to help Kenya's poor. Odinga promised government money to families under the poverty line. And Ruto promised to spend more than $1 billion a year to increase jobs in a country where more than a third of young Kenyans are unemployed⁹.

Kenyan politics is often marked less by issues than by alliances that create a path to power and the wealth that can come from it. On Monday, Ruto thanked Odinga and added that people who had acted against his campaign "have nothing to fear ... There is no room for vengeance¹⁰."

Calls for calm, peace

The electoral commission tried to improve its openness in this election. It placed online more than 46,000 documents from around the country. For the first time, the public could follow the election through local media. Individuals gathered and shared their findings as a check on the official process.

The counts showed Ruto ahead, but the race remained close. As Kenyans waited for almost a week for official results, both Odinga and Ruto joined the police, civil society groups and religious leaders to appeal for peace. Past elections have been marked by political violence.

After the 2007 vote, more than 1,000 people were killed after Odinga claimed victory had been stolen from him. Ruto, then Odinga's ally, was indicted¹¹ by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity for his part in the violence. But the case ended because of accusations¹² that witnesses were threatened.

The 2017 election results were overturned by the high court because of problems with the vote. Odinga boycotted¹³ the new vote that followed which Kenyatta won declaring himself the "people's president."

The next president will have to deal with a severe economic and social crisis in the country. Poor Kenyans, already dealing¹⁴ with the effects of COVID-19, have been hit with increases in food and fuel prices. In addition to that, extremely dry weather has hurt the country's north, leaving 4.1 million people dependent on food aid.

Words in This Story

opaque –adj. difficult to understand or explain

dynasty –n. a family of rulers or a group that ruled over a country for a long period of time

vengeance –n. the act of doing something to hurt someone because that person did something that hurt you or someone else

1 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。

4 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

7 loyalties   

n.忠诚( loyalty的名词复数 )；忠心；忠于…感情；要忠于…的强烈感情

参考例句：

• an intricate network of loyalties and relationships 忠诚与义气构成的盘根错节的网络
• Rows with one's in-laws often create divided loyalties. 与姻亲之间的矛盾常常让人两面为难。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

10 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

11 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

12 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

13 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

14 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。