Kenya's Opposition leader Raila Odinga takes the Lead in the Country's Presidential election

Election officials confirmed that Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga is taking the lead in the presidential race, as the country eagerly awaits final result of the highly anticipated election.

 The election, which was conducted last Tuesday, is gaining global attention as it will determine the fate of Kenya’s democracy after historic crisis.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in Kenya IEBC showed on Saturday that Raila Odinga has 54% while his rival, Deputy President William Ruto has 45% votes.

.Past votes in the country have been marred by rigging and deadly violence.

Both Odinga and Ruto are in a stiff contest to succeed the out-going President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose two-term tenure elapses.

President Kenyatta has come out to support Odinga after his intimacy with Ruto appeared to be following the last election.

Official vote tallying has been proceeding slowly, heightening public anxiety.

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati blamed party agents, who are allowed to examine results forms before they are added to the final tally officially.

He said “We are not moving as fast as we should. This exercise needs to be concluded as soon as possible.”

Representatives from Odinga and Ruto’s coalitions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Both frontrunners have pledged to ensure calm after the outcome is known, with Kenyans still haunted by the deadly violence that followed the 2017 and 2007 polls.

More than 1,200 people were killed after the disputed 2007 elections and more than 100 were killed after the 2017 elections.

In a bid to be transparent, the election commission – which faced stinging criticism over its management of the annulled August 2017 polls – has been uploading documents to its website showing results from each polling station.

Both frontrunners have pledged to ensure calm after the outcome is known, with Kenyans still haunted by the deadly violence that followed the 2017 and 2007 polls.

More than 1,200 people were killed after the disputed 2007 elections and more than 100 were killed after the 2017 elections.

In a bid to be transparent, the election commission – which faced stinging criticism over its management of the annulled August 2017 polls – has been uploading documents to its website showing results from each polling station.

The Reuters news agency and other media outlets have been tallying result forms from 291 constituencies posted online.

As of 21:00 GMT on Saturday, Reuters had tallied 241 forms, which showed Ruto in the lead with nearly 52.3 percent of the vote, compared with Odinga’s 47 percent. Two other candidates had less than 1 percent between them.

Reuters said 30 forms could not be included in the count because they were unreadable or were missing information such as signatures, constituency names, or totals.

The forms Reuters tallied were preliminary and the results subject to change. After the forms are uploaded to the IEBC website, Kenyan election law requires that they are physically brought to the national tallying centre, where party representatives can examine them for any discrepancies.

The process was designed as a safeguard against the kind of rigging allegations that have triggered violence after previous polls.

The commission has until Tuesday to declare a winner.

The winning candidate must receive 50 percent of the national vote plus one, and at least 25 percent of the vote from 24 of 47 counties.

With the race so close, observers say 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.