Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga of the Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) One Kenya Alliance, who competed in Kenya's presidential election, addresses the nation following the announcement of the results of the presidential election, in Nairobi, Kenya August 16, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT

After the extremely close outcome of the presidential election in Kenya, the opposition leader Raila Odinga, who was officially defeated, wants to challenge the election result. The election results announced on Monday were “a farce and a blatant disregard for Kenya’s constitution,” Odinga said in Nairobi on Tuesday. He announced that he would exhaust all “legal options” against it.

According to the head of the electoral commission, former Vice President William Ruto won the election with 50.5 percent of the vote, ahead of Odinga with 48.9 percent. However, four of the seven members of the election commission distanced themselves from the election results shortly before the official announcement.

The Vice President of the Commission, Juliana Cherera, justified the step on Tuesday with mathematical inconsistencies, among other things. She said the sum of the officially released figures added up to 100.01 percent, so the total bill needed to be checked.

“I don’t want to comment fully on our future strategies,” Odinga told reporters. However, he will “use every constitutional and legal avenue available to us” to challenge the election result, he added. On Monday evening there had already been protests in several Odinga strongholds in Nairobi.