Nairobi — United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate William Ruto took an early lead on Wednesday opening a 2-point gap between him and his chief competitor, Azimio's Raila Odinga, in a tight race that saw the gap narrow from a high of 6 per cent.
A provisional tally by the Nation Media Group (NMG) gave Ruto a 300,000-vote lead with 50.9 per cent of the tallied vote against Odinga's 48.6 per cent.
With results from 23,705 polling stations tabulated Ruto's votes stood at 3.7 million compared to Raila's 3.4 million votes out of 7.2 votes tabulated.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had at the time already shared statutory Form 34As from 99 per cent (45,894) of the 46,229 polling stations spread across the country.
The gap between the two candidates emerged even as IEBC updated the voter turnout figures to 64.6 per cent based on electors identified electronically using the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS).
The commission's register had a total of 21,102,532 voters spread across the polling stations zoned into streams with a maximum of 700 electors.
IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati told news reporters at the National Tally Centre at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi that the electoral agency would give a final turnout figure once the number of voters identified manually is verified.
The electoral commission had reported a 56.1 per cent KIEMS-based turnout at 4pm on Tuesday, an hour before voting closed with 12 million voters having voted at the time up from 6.5 million who had voted by midday.
Despite having the least number of presidential contenders since the re-introduction of multi-party politics, Tuesday's presidential election was billed as a high-stakes poll with the two top contenders -- Kenya Kwanza's William Ruto and Azimio's Raila Odinga -- emerging as clear frontrunners.
The two other candidates in the race -- Agano Party's David Mwaure and Roots Party's George Wajackoyah -- hardly managed to poll beyond 1 per cent in most opinion polls which projected the proportion of undecided voters to be as high as 5 per cent with another 5 per cent of likely voters said to have withheld their preferences.
Ruto's lead in the provisional tally came as the ruling Jubilee Party, a principal partner in Azimio Coalition Party -- suffered successive losses with a number of high-profile figures conceding defeat.
The first casualty was House Majority Leader Amos Kimunya conceded defeat in the Kipipiri parliamentary race as UDA emerged as a strong player in central region with most of its candidates poised to garner parliamentary seats.
Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni followed suit congratulating George Gachagua (UDA) party who maintained a commanding lead in provisional results Wednesday.
"To the people of Ndaragwa, it has been an honor to serve you as your Member of Parliament. I accept the results with honor and contentment. Congratulations to Hon. George Gachagua on your election," Kioni tweeted.
Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru also conceded as the Kirinyaga gubernatorial race shaped up as a two-horse contest between incumbent Anne Waiguru and Purity Ngirici (Independent).
The UDA wave claimed a few casualties in Ruto's Rift Valley bedrock where two incumbents running on independent tickets lost to candidates nominated by the Ruto-led outfit.
Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter lost to Bernard Kibor after the IEBC formally certified his victory. In Ainabkoi, William Chepkut conceded to Samuel Chepkonga.
Ruto, who soared to the nation's second highest position as the country's inaugural Deputy President in 2013, has had a turbulent time in office in his second term after President Kenyatta, once a sworn ally who even vowed to back his presidential bid, launched an onslaught against the UDA leader and his camp that saw them expelled from the ruling Jubilee Party.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
President Kenyatta subsequently backed Ruto's chief rival, Odinga, with the governing party, a founder member of Odinga's Azimio Coalition Party, backing the former Prime Minister's bid.
Despite isolated incidents of insecurity that saw nonstrategic electoral materials, including polling booths, destroyed in parts of the country, most polling stations across the country opened at 6am with millions of voters lining up to cast their ballots.
IEBC reverted to using the KIEMS-based register as the primary identification mechanism following a Court of Appeal ruling on Monday compelling the agency to use the electronic register permitting the use of the printed (manual) roll only in cases of technology failure.
President Kenyatta's support for Odinga is seen as a culmination of a 2018 truce during which the two leaders detailed a cooperation pact that saw them spearhead a constitutional review process christened the Building Bridges Initiative that was invalidated by the Constitutional Court (2020) in a decision upheld by both the Court of Appeal (2021) and the Supreme Court (2022).
