The presidential elections in Kenya are inching closer to the first runoff in their history.
At midnight on Thursday 11 August, while the Independent Electoral Commission IEBC was busy verifying the registers physically arriving at the data processing centre at the 'Bomas' in Nairobi, the numbers in the possession of the Daily Nation newspaper, the most advanced in the separate but unofficial count, reported Vice-President William Ruto very close to the 50 per cent quota that with even one more vote would give him the chance to be announced in the first round as Kenya's fifth president. His rival, former opposition leader Raila Odinga, backed by outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, was only 80,000 votes away, out of the approximately 13 million counted. Overnight the counting of the official data from the 291 constituencies goes on, and at best the final announcement by IEBC President Wafula Chebukati could be made today, Friday 12 August. President or ballot?

The hope is that an immediate end can be put to a gruelling election process that has fortunately seen the turmoil on the ground reduced to a minimum. There are no tentative dates for the second round of voting, which should in any case be held within 30 days of the results being released, barring petitions submitted by the camps to be analysed and judged by the High Court.
On Thursday, there were a few unpleasant incidents  Few unpleasant incidents and no forceful police intervention. Some 20 arrests were made throughout the country and in the end the most dramatic criminal episode was committed by an MP, Didmus Barasa, who is accused of having shot dead the bodyguard of his political opponent in a constituency on the border with Uganda, where Barasa is believed to have fled.
Otherwise, fears remain hanging, along with the final results, of possible post-election protests, especially if the losers do not accept defeat as happened in 2017 and with even more tragic implications, in 2008. As always, we will update you in little more than real time.