2 yıl önce

Kenya's Supreme Court upholds Ruto win in presidential vote

Kenya's top court dismissed all issues challenging the August election results, which delivered victory to William Ruto against challenger Raila Odinga, who had alleged fraud in the poll.

AFP

Jubilant supporters of Kenya's president-elect Ruto took to the streets Monday after his election victory was upheld by the Supreme Court, with many people voicing hope the country could now move on.

Kenya's Supreme Court has upheld William Ruto's victory in the August 9 presidential election, ending weeks of political uncertainty and delivering a blow to challenger Raila Odinga who had alleged fraud in the poll.

"This is a unanimous decision. The petitions are hereby dismissed, as a consequence we declare the first respondent (Ruto) as president-elect," Chief Justice Martha Koome said on Monday.

Judges spent the last two weeks sifting through boxes of evidence to establish if any irregularities were substantial enough to nullify the election, as was the case with the August 2017 presidential poll, which Odinga also challenged.

Odinga's 72-page petition alleged hackers broke into the servers of the Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and uploaded doctored result forms, but the claim was dismissed by the court.

The court dismissed all nine issues at the heart of the challenge to the results, which had delivered victory to Ruto by a margin of less than two percentage points.

Koome said the technology used by the IEBC met the standards of "integrity, verifiability, security and transparency".

"The... irregularities were not of such magnitude as to affect the final results of the presidential election," Koome declared.

Ruto, the 55-year-old incumbent deputy president, is now due to take office on September 13. Both the Ruto and Odinga camps had pledged to accept the court's ruling.

Growing disillusionment

After 2017's annulment, the IEBC was under heavy pressure to deliver a clean poll. But this year's outcome sparked a rift within the IEBC itself, with four of its seven commissioners accusing chairman Wafula Chebukati of running an "opaque" process.

Chebukati denied the allegations, insisting he carried out his duties according to the law of the land despite facing "intimidation and harassment".

Since 2002, no presidential poll outcome in Kenya has gone uncontested.

Odinga, who previously said he was cheated of victory in the 2007, 2013 and 2017 polls, had framed the legal battle as a fight "for democracy and good governance".

Ruto in turn had urged the court to toss out the petition, accusing Odinga of trying "to have another bite at the cherry through a judicially-forced re-run".

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies