Uhuru Kenyatta is officially Kenya’s fourth president after the final tally by IEBC showed he had garnered 50.03% of the votes case.
Kenyatta got 6,173,433 votes with Raila Odinga coming in second at 5,340,546. The total number of votes cast was 12,338,667.
Towards the end of the tallying, it emerged that the race was not between Kenyatta and Odinga, but between Kenyatta and the 50% +1 constitutional requirement. And Uhuru beat it by a whisker. Between him and 50% +1 was only 4100 votes at the end of it.
As early as 4 am Saturday morning, celebrations had already broken out in various parts of the country, particularly Jubilee’s strongholds. Nairobi CBD, Thika and Dagoretti were some of them. This was however after enough jubilation had taken place at Catholic University, the venue for Kenyatta’s acceptance speech.
Uhuru’s immediate task will be uniting the country, and as one analyst put it, “He will be taking over power, with only half the country behind him”.
His acceptance speech will be particularly important, and his word choice will either rally the whole country behind him or further divide it.
© nairobiwire.com
