Former Kenyan Deputy President William Samoei Arap Ruto has been declared the winner of the Kenyan Presidential election, The Tower Post reports.

Ruto emerged winner after beating stiff competition from former Prime Minister and veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga of the Azimio La Umoja Coalition.

In the election that featured four candidates, United Democratic Alliance – UDA’s Ruto polled 7,176,141 votes which accounted for 50.49% of the total votes.

Azimio’s Odinga came second after polling 6,942,930 votes which accounted for 48.85% of the total votes cast.

Ruto becomes the fifth President of the Republic of Kenya after Jomo Kenyatta, the country’s founding father who led from 1964 to 1978, Daniel Arap Moi (1978 to 2002), Mwai KIbaki (2002 to 2013) and Uhuru Kenyatta with whom Ruto has been serving as Deputy President since 2013.

Prior to his election as Deputy President in 2013, Ruto was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1998 to 2013.

He served as Minister for Home Affairs in the Daniel Arap Moi administration from August to December 2002.

He also served in the Mwai Kibaki administration as Minister of Agriculture from 2008 to 2010 and as Minister for Higher Education from April to October 2010.