KENYA’S Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has declared candidate of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), Deputy President William Ruto, winner of the country’s August 9 presidential election, after a suspense-filled week.

According to the Commission, Ruto got 50.49 per cent of the votes to defeat his closest rival and leader of the opposition party, Raila Odinga, with a very slim margin.

The President-elect has promised to run a transparent, open, democratic government and to work with the opposition to the extent that they provide oversight over his administration.

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“It was God that brought us here. My team and I will make sure that the sacrifices made by many Kenyans is not in vain.

“There are no losers. The people of Kenya have won because we raised the political bar. There is no looking back, we are looking to the future, we need all hands on deck to move forward,” Ruto said in his victory speech.

Odinga, a former Prime Minister and the son of the Kenya’s first vice president, recorded his fifth-failed attempt at the Presidency.

The 77-year-old politician had alleged that the last three elections were stolen from him and his coalition rejected the election results even before they were announced by the IEBC.

Odinga’s chief agent Saitabao Kanchory told the press outside the national election centre in Nairobi that they had not yet been able to cross verify the final result with their own tally.

The national tallying centre briefly descended into chaos shortly after Odinga’s coalition rejected the results, with fighting breaking out and chairs being thrown in the building.

Four of the seven members of the electoral commission also refused to endorse the result, saying it was “opaque”.

“We cannot take ownership of the result that is going to be announced because of the opaque nature of this last phase of the general election,” said IEBC’s Vice-chairperson Juliana Cherera.

“We are going to give a comprehensive statement and again we urge Kenyans to keep calm. There is an open door that people can go to court and the rule of law will prevail,” she added.