Kenya presidential candidate concedes early defeat, congratulates Kenyatta

Thirdway Alliance Kenya (TAK) party candidate John Ekuru Longoggy Aukot has on Thursday conceded defeat ahead of the declaration of results.

Aukot addressed the press in the afternoon in Nairobi where he congratulated incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta for taking the lead according to the provisional results released.

“There is a reason why you are ahead of the rest of us. Congratulations for the early lead. Should you be declared winner, we hope that you will make your next government a truly all-inclusive government,” he advised.

He also had an advise for Raila Odinga whom he praised for his service to the nation.

“We will not be here without you. Democracy cannot be spoken without your good name … Your dreams will always be our hope,” he said.

“Kenyans want to move on and go back to work and continue their daily life struggles … there are no material issues that will significantly change the outcome of these results,” he added.

John Ekuru Longoggy Aukot congratulated all the presidential candidates for keeping the peace.

“We will live to fight another day. We did our best but the people of Kenya think otherwise … Let us celebrate our diversity as a people and work together to build Kenya, a country that we all love,” he said.

He hailed the IEBC for an “exceptional” process while acknowledging the general consensus that it was not the best.

The IEBC is yet to declare the final results which will be announced after validation of all the results manually recorded from the polling stations.

Per preliminary results, incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta is leading main opposition candidate Raila Odinga with over a million votes.

• Meet the eight candidates for Kenya’s 2017 presidential elections
• A look at Kenya’s elections history since independence in 1964
• Kenya Votes 2017: Have a look at the electoral system

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