Three days after the vote, Kenyans are still eagerly awaiting the name of the winner of the presidential election. A suspense that causes nervousness among the population.
The tabulation of results has been ongoing in Kenya since the polls on Tuesday 9 August. The work is long for the Electoral Commission, which must check all the reports sent by the polling stations. For the sake of transparency, it puts them online as and when. The media take the opportunity to display, since Tuesday evening, their own vote count. Real-time, but sometimes contradictory, and rapidly changing estimates.
Because the result looks very tightto the point that the Kenyan media council became concerned about ” anxiety that this count could provoke. In Kisumu, a city loyal to Raila Odinga, the atmosphere in the streets is calm and the inhabitants have their eyes glued to the television channels, reports our special correspondent, Albane Thirouard. She met Jared Otieno, sitting on the edge of the sidewalk in front of his motorcycle taxi, who does not pick up his phone. ” I don’t feel very well, I’m stressed because we don’t yet know the results for the presidential election. Each media has different figures, it is difficult to know which ones to follow. Especially since it’s very tight, so difficult to estimate who will win! »
A few streets away, sitting in front of her stall at the Chichwa market in downtown Kisumu, Mildred Omondi grows impatient. She would like to see the results come sooner. Because in the meantime, customers are waiting. “ It’s as if everything was on hold! Trade has not resumed, people just want to know the winner, they are all glued to their televisions. And besides most of the other stalls remained closed. »
From her phone, the young woman also jumps from one television channel to another. “ Even if the results are different, I can follow the evolution of the counts, know where things are going, it also allows more transparency this year. Because I want to know the score of my candidate! I’m anxious, way too anxious. »
The Electoral Commission recalled Thursday that it alone could announce the final result, and called on Kenyans to be patient. It has seven days, ie until August 16, to announce the winner of the ballot.
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For its part, the observation mission of the European Union delivered its preliminary conclusions on Thursday. They were 180 European observers deployed in the country. Ivan Stefanec, the head of the observation mission, speaks about the slowness of the results and the tension that this generates in the country at the microphone of Charlotte Simonart.
” We understand that the different information sent by the media creates confusion. But we must remain patient and wait for the official results. We continue to observe this electoral process and we understand that the people want results quickly as well as the candidates. But we call for patience and urge candidates to remain calm. If we want the procedure to be followed, then yes, it takes time. Verifications are still in progress, the results sent electronically must be uploaded and then counted at the results compilation center and this takes time. It is better to wait and have reliable results than to make mistakes. »