The law in Kenya states that a presidential candidate must get 50% of the total votes cast plus 1 extra vote. But many Kenyans don’t understand how this works.
Assuming that there are 4 presidential candidates and the total number of votes cast is 20 million, the winner must get 10 million votes plus one more vote, the total number of votes for the winning candidate must be 10,000,001 or 10 million and one more vote. The other votes will be divided amongst other presidential candidates.
If the presidential candidates are two and the total number of votes are 10 million, the winning candidate must get 5 million votes plus one extra vote.
This means that every vote counts. Imagine of a case where the winner wins by just 1 vote, it’s a painful experience.
If the leading candidate does not get 50% plus one extra vote, then a runoff will be done and the one to win with a simple majority will automatically become the president.
