Raila beats Ruto in all diaspora poll centres
Opposition leader Raila Odinga has beaten his fiercest rival Deputy President William Ruto in all the 12 diaspora polling centres, in an election where attaining the 50 percent plus one vote winning threshold is the biggest nightmare for leading candidates, provisional results from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) reveal.
A tally by the Business Daily of all the results on the IEBC portal shows that the Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate garnered a total of 3,827 votes from all the 12 countries in the diaspora where Kenyans are allowed to vote. This is against 2,190 votes received by Ruto, who is running on the United Democratic Alliance ticket.
All diaspora polling stations had uploaded their forms 34As on the IEBC portal by 2 pm Thursday, translating to a 100 percent compliance, which means that the electoral agency was now ready to announce the winner of the diaspora vote after verification and a final tally was done.
Form 34A is the first form used by the commission to tabulate presidential election results. It is filled by presiding officers after counting votes at the polling station and the result as declared is final.
The diaspora has 27 polling centres spread in the 12 capital cities of select countries and each is required to send in their form 34As.
According to the submitted results on the portal, Raila beat Ruto in the United States of America, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, South Sudan and South Africa.
The former Prime Minister also beat Ruto in Rwanda, Germany, Canada, Burundi, Qatar and Uganda.
This is after he got 393 votes in the US, compared to Ruto’s 132, and 373 votes in the UK against Ruto’s 198. In UAE, Raila received 273 votes compared to Ruto’s 223, while in Tanzania he led with 274 votes against Ruto’s 127.
In South Sudan, Raila garnered 514 votes while Ruto received 269 votes, while in South Africa, Raila got 320 votes compared to Ruto’s 121. Raila got 453 votes in Uganda compared to Ruto’s 235 and he received 527 votes in Qatar, compared to Ruto’s 519.
Though the diaspora vote is not likely to have a significant impact on the total count, it is a major vote of confidence for the opposition leader from Kenyans living abroad. It also gives an insight into who of the two leading presidential formations appealed most to Kenyans in the diaspora, who sent home more than Sh300 billion in remittances every year.
The IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati says the voter turnout in the 2022 General Election stands at 65.4 percent. This translates to about 14.5 million voters going by the 22.1 million registered voters in the 2022 poll.
Mr Odinga, who is the African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development in Africa, is attempting his fifth stab at the presidency, fashioned his campaign against the fight against corruption and continuing the legacy of outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta.
On his part, his main challenger put up a spirited campaign on building the economy from the bottom up, appealing to the masses and the churches.
Kenyans went to the polls on August 9 in a tightly contested poll with the law giving electoral agency seven days to announce the final presidential results.
pwafula@ke.nationmedia.com