What Does 50% Plus 1 Mean In Kenyan Elections?

Kenyans went to the polls on August 9, 2022. The process of tallying the Presidential results is ongoing. The main two candidates Raila Odinga of Azimio and William Ruto of Kenya Kwanza are going head-to-head baing on data from the media.

But as the tallying continue, the main subject right now is whether the winner will get 50 percent plus 1 vote. In the event that one fails to get that, Kenya will be forced to have the first presidential run-off in history. The IEBC says that it is prepared.

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What is 50 percent plus 1 vote? Is it 51 percent or 50 percent of the votes plus one single vote? What does the Constitution of Kenya say?

Article 138 (4) of the Constitution of Kenya states that; (4) A candidate shall be declared elected as President if the candidate receives– (a) more than half of all the votes cast in the election; and (b) at least twenty-five percent of the votes cast in each of more than half of the counties.

At the same time, the sub-section (5) says; If no candidate is elected, a fresh election shall be held within thirty days after the previous election and in that fresh election the only candidates shall be– (a) the candidate, or the candidates, who received the greatest number of votes; and (b) the candidate, or the candidates, who received the second greatest number of votes.

From what the Constitution says, 50 percent plus 1 means 50 percent of the votes plus one vote. As the IEBC continues with the tallying of the votes, this will be one of the key things that the officials will be banking on to declare the winner.

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Let us hope that the best candidate wins and that we shall have peace and unity.