Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Kenya elections: Prayers for peace as presidential race tightens

14/08/2022

Kenya elections: Prayers for peace as presidential race tightensKenyans gathered on Sunday in their respective denominations praying for peace in Kenya as country waits for final count

by Agence France-Presse

14-08-2022 18:20

in Christian Connect

Worshippers attend Sunday prayer at Legio Maria Church in Kisumu on 14 August, 2022. Photo: Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP

Kenyans prayed for peace Sunday as they waited anxiously for the final outcome of a tight presidential race, with the two frontrunners neck and neck, according to partial official results.

--

As of Sunday morning, Deputy President William Ruto had scored 51.25% of the vote, reversing earlier gains for his main rival Raila Odinga, who had 48.09%, according to data from the election commission covering nearly 50 percent of constituencies.

Tuesday's vote passed off largely peacefully but after previous elections sparked deadly violence and rigging claims, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is under intense pressure to deliver a clean poll and release results by 16 August.

Riot police were deployed overnight inside the commission's heavily-guarded tallying centre in the Kenyan capital Nairobi after political party agents disrupted the process, hurling rigging allegations at each other.

--

KENYA ELECTIONS 2022 The commission's chairman Wafula Chebukati has accused party agents of delaying the tallying process by haranguing election workers with unnecessary questions.

More than a dozen civil society groups, trade unions as well as the Kenyan chapters of Amnesty International and Transparency International issued a statement Sunday urging calm.

We call on all political candidates, their supporters and the public to exercise restraint. We must all avoid raising tensions that could easily trigger violence,

the group of 14 organisations said. The poll pitted Odinga, a veteran opposition leader now backed by the ruling party, against Ruto, who was widely expected to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta until his boss joined hands with former foe Odinga in a dramatic shift of political allegiances.

--

ALSO READ: War in Ukraine: Latest NEWS

Let us have peace' Both candidates have pledged to maintain calm, with the memory of the 2007-08 and 2017 post-poll violence still fresh for many Kenyans.

At a church service in Nairobi on Sunday, Odinga, 77, recited the opening lines of the Peace Prayer of St Francis and said: I want to become an instrument to bring peace, to heal, to unite and keep the hope alive in our country.

Congregants in Odinga's stronghold of Kisumu also prayed for a peaceful outcome, with 81-year-old bishop Washington Ogonyo Ngede telling his flock: Don't let politics divide us. We must remain united.

Because leaders come and go but the country of Kenya lives forever,

said Ngede, a lifelong friend of the Odinga family. Let us have peace,

he said to cheers and ululations from the gathering of some 300 worshippers. Kenyans voted in six elections, choosing a new president as well as senators, governors, lawmakers, women representatives and some 1 500 county officials.

Lawyer David Mwaure one of the four presidential candidates, along with former spy George Wajackoyah conceded on Sunday, endorsing Ruto, whose party won a key gubernatorial race when Johnson Sakaja secured control of Nairobi, Kenya's richest city.

ALSO READ: Kenya's Ruto leading in tight presidential race: early results

Model for the continent' The election is being closely watched by an international community that views Kenya as a pillar of stability in a volatile region, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken describing the country's polls as a model for the continent .

We encourage peace and patience as the vote tallying continues from the August 9 elections,

Blinken said on Twitter late Saturday. Turnout was about 65 percent, much lower than the 78% recorded in 2017, a reflection, some observers say, of the disenchantment with the political elite, particularly among young people.

The winner of the presidential race needs to secure 50% plus one vote and at least a quarter of the votes in 24 of Kenya's 47 counties.

If not, the country will be forced to hold a runoff within 30 days of the original vote.

Observers say that with the race so close, an appeal to the Supreme Court by the losing candidate is almost certain, meaning it could be many weeks before a new president takes office.

Agence France-Presse

How well do you know Skeem Saam'? ENTER the SOAPIE QUIZ & WIN R1 000 in cash!
LINK: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/culture/christian-connect/kenya-electi...
See more stories from thesouthafrican

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

25/08/2026

Law and Crime Moves Court TV to Amagi CLOUDPORT for Unifi...

Amagi, the media industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced that Law&Crime has migrated its Court TV channel, s...

25/08/2026

Broadcast Solutions demonstrates world-class technology a...

Broadcast Solutions, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast and media industry, is showcasing the breadth of its ca...

25/08/2026

Leader boosts Test and Measurement capabilities for Denma...

Thatcham, UK 25 August 2026: Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced that leading broadcast rental company Minitech has purchased a Le...

25/08/2026

Appear and TVTEL power centralised VAR signal transport i...

Appear's X20 Platform enables visually lossless video contribution with sub-frame latency and full path redundancy for TVTEL's centralised VAR operation...

25/08/2026

Big Blue Marble to showcase next-generation 5G Broadcast...

World-first demonstration combines 5G Broadcast and Media over QUIC for seamless, ultra-low-latency hybrid media delivery Big Blue Marble will showcase new dev...

25/08/2026

MNC Software Unveils Unified Software Suite at IBC2026 to...

MNC Software, a global leader in network management and operational support systems tailored to the broadcast and media industry, will showcase its complete sof...

25/08/2026

VAB: Ads in Local News Boost Sales and Brand Perception

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/08/2026

ESPN to Bump Up Streaming Subscription Prices

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/08/2026

HPA Opens Call for Award Entries

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/08/2026

CNN Returns to Air After Technical Difficulties

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/08/2026

Calrec to Showcase DMF Capabilities at IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/08/2026

Imagine Communications to Showcase AI and MCP Strategy at...

Company to Demonstrate Practical AI Applications That Add Value Today and Longer-Term Path Toward Agentic AI At IBC2026 (Sept. 11 14, RAI Amsterdam, Stand #1.B...

25/08/2026

KRK Kreate Series Standardizes Monitoring at Miamis WDNA...

Serving South Florida with a unique blend of jazz, Latin jazz, salsa, reggae, blues, and culturally reflective programming, WDNA 88.9FM operates as both a tradi...

25/08/2026

GlobalM Brings GMX Broadcast Platform to Oracle Cloud Inf...

GlobalM announced that it is integrating its GMX software-defined media platform with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), bringing together Oracle's global c...

25/08/2026

Escape to the country as Cheap Irish Homes returns for a brand-new series

The new series begins Tuesday 1 September at 7pm on RT One and RT Player The search for Ireland's hidden housing gems is back as Cheap Irish Homes return...

24/08/2026

New Book Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN' Preserves Founder Bill Rasmussen's Origin Story and the Lessons That Still Define the Network Today

Co-authors Mike Soltys and Garrett Sutton reflect on Rasmussen's vision, intentional optimism,' and fan-first philosophy following his death last week...

24/08/2026

Dr. Fill from Yurt Rock

Human-played drum fills on demand Sample library developers Yurt Rock have announced the launch of a new plug-in that's dedicated to creating drum fill...

24/08/2026

Black Rooster Audio launch PS-VC1 Vocal Chain Channel

Debut plug-in in new Professional Series Black Rooster Audio's latest plug-in delivers an all-in-one vocal-processing tool, and is the debut release in ...

24/08/2026

SBS WorldWatch embraces digital future with move to SBS On Demand

SBS WorldWatch embraces digital future with move to SBS On Demand 24 August, 2026 Media releases On 18 September, SBS WorldWatch will transition from a lin...

24/08/2026

Rohde & Schwarz addresses operational efficiency and infrastructure resilience at IBC 2026 in Amsterdam

Rohde & Schwarz addresses operational efficiency and infrastructure resilience a...

24/08/2026

Rohde to Focus on Operational Efficiency, Sustainability at IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

24/08/2026

Calrec advances the EBU Dynamic Media Facility vision at...

As the broadcast industry moves toward more flexible production platforms, Calrec will present its evolving audio ecosystem at IBC 2026, on Stand 8.C47. The dem...

24/08/2026

Stop Using Boring Static Highlights - Pro After Effects Workflow

Stop Using Boring Static Highlights - Pro After Effects Workflow Graham Quince August 24, 2026 0 Comments Did you know you can use After Effects expre...

24/08/2026

Paledusk Performance Captured with URSA Cine Immersive

Paledusk Performance Captured with URSA Cine Immersive Brie Clayton August 24, 2026 0 Comments Creative production company THINGS. brings the band'...

24/08/2026

Sky Arts Confirms Double Classical Documentary Showcase Ahead of Edinburgh TV Festival

The Handel Scandal and Dangerous Debussy will both air on Sky Arts this AutumnMo...

24/08/2026

Dalet Accelerates Media Transformation with AI, Automation and Governance at IBC 2026

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, w...

24/08/2026

Arvato Systems becomes a service partner of HANDELSVERBAND.swiss

Arvato Systems Becomes a Service Partner of HANDELSVERBAND.swiss Zurich - Arvato Systems Switzerland has been a service partner of HANDELSVERBAND.swiss since ...

24/08/2026

Up to 30x More Work Per Watt: NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 Sets a New Efficiency Standard for AI Agents

According to OpenRouter data, agentic AI workloads consume 15x more tokens than ...

24/08/2026

With Groq 3 LPX in Full Production, NVIDIA Extends Vera Rubin Inference for Agents

The next era of AI inference won't be defined by a single breakthrough chip,...

24/08/2026

How XPUs Meet a World-Class AI Factory

To generate intelligence at scale, AI factories run continuously, and their economics are defined by delivered output: tokens per second, tokens per watt, cost ...

24/08/2026

Documentary on the life and writings of James Connolly to air on RT

We Only Want the Earth: The Life & Ideas of James Connolly airs Wednesday 26 August on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm RT is to air the compelling documenta...

23/08/2026

Parish Audio introduce Parametric Compressor

Offers up to 10 bands of compression Parish Audio's latest release allows users to place individual compressors anywhere in the frequency range, but tak...

22/08/2026

Macon Blair on Filmmaking and the Long Road to Idiots

O'Shea Jackson Jr., Dave Franco, and Mason Thames appear in Idiots by Macon Blair, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of ...

22/08/2026

Crafting the Contenders: Adam Bricker, ASC on bringing Hacks home

By the time Hacks reached its fifth and final season, Adam Bricker ASC had spent six years shaping one of television's most distinctive visual identities. T...

22/08/2026

World Cup Drives TVP to Retain Top Spot in July as Live Sport Buoys Polish Viewership

Polsat reclaims second place, ByteDance climbs to eighth, and live football miti...

22/08/2026

DirecTV Offers New Customers a Year of Free Netflix with Ads

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/08/2026

Judge Sets Early October Hearing for ABC Lawsuit Against FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/08/2026

ORF Taps Net Insight for Full IP Upgrade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/08/2026

Breezeline Teams Up with DirecTV to Launch New Streaming Bundle

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/08/2026

Avid brings agentic media production to IBC2026

Avid brings agentic media production to IBC2026 Brie Clayton August 21, 2026 0 Comments After launching Avid Content Core at NAB 2026, Avid expands it...

22/08/2026

Making of Lord of the Flies Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro

Making of Lord of the Flies Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro Brie Clayton August 21, 2026 0 Comments Filmmaker Lisa Marie Russo shoots on the bea...

22/08/2026

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Dogs In A Pile

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Dogs in a Pile The rising jam band talks about where it all started on the Berklee campus ahead of their Homecoming performance o...

22/08/2026

Berklee Alumna Lexi Vollero MA '22 Receives Fulbright Award to Brazil

Berklee Alumna Lexi Vollero MA '22 Receives Fulbright Award to Brazil Vollero, a Berklee NYC graduate, has been selected for a Fulbright Open Research Awa...

21/08/2026

FOX Sports Rolls Out Its Most Ambitious Live Motorsports Production' Ever at IndyCar Freedom 250 GP in DC

A massive deployment of specialty cameras, graphics, and AR will showcase the na...

21/08/2026

Creative Studio Zookeeper Embraces Pinball Motif for West Coast Conference PSA

The West Coast Conference unveiled its new 30-second public service announcement, the latest expression of the Conference's We Rise in the West brand iden...

21/08/2026

ESPN Soft-Launches a New NFL Graphics Package, Scorebug During Thursday Night's Raiders-Texans Preseason Game

New look will serve as the foundation for ESPN's upcoming NFL season and Sup...

21/08/2026

ESPN to Debut Little League Alumni Alt-Cast for 2026 MLB Little League Classic

ESPN will air the ninth annual MLB Little League Classic presented by New York Life on Sunday, August 23, at 7 p.m. ET from Historic Bowman Field in Williamspor...