Kenya’s electoral commission chairman yesterday declared Deputy President William Ruto the winner of a tight presidential race, but some senior election officials disowned the result.

Ruto received 50.49 percent of the vote, the chairman said, while the 77-year-old long-time opposition figure Raila Odinga received 48.85 percent. But chaos emerged just before the declaration when the electoral commission’s vice chair and three other commissioners told journalists they could not support the “opaque nature” of the final phase of the process.

At the declaration venue, police surged to impose calm amid shouting, and scuffles before electoral commission chair Wafula Chebukati announced the official results — and said the two commissioners still there had been injured.

The sudden split in the commission came minutes after Odinga’s chief agent said they could not verify the results and made allegations of “electoral offenses” without giving details or evidence. Odinga didn’t come to the venue for the declaration.

The announcement resulted in chaotic scenes after the deputy chairperson of the election commission and three other commissioners disowned the presidential election results.

“We can not take ownership of the results that will be announced,’’ Juliana Cherera, the deputy chairperson of the electoral commission told a media briefing at a different venue from where the announcement was to be made.

Diplomats and international election observers were whisked out of the tallying hall where the chairman of the electoral commission was preparing to announce the presidential results.

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Meanwhile, the President-elect, William Ruto, has vowed to lead a transparent and open democratic government. He was addressing the nation after being declared the winner by the country’s electoral commission chairperson.

Ruto won the tightly contested presidential election over five-time contender Raila Odinga. Ruto received just over 50 percent of the vote, while Odinga received just over 48 percent of the vote.

However, chaos emerged just before the declaration, when the electoral commission’s vice chair and three other commissioners disowned the presidential election results.

“Ruto William Samuel, the number of votes, seven million 176 thousand votes. This represents 50.49 percent and the minimum number of 39 counties. So, in accordance with the constitution of the law, I, Wafula Chibukati chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) hereby declare Ruto Williams as the newly elected president of the Republic of Kenya,” said IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati.