By Mike Sebalu
The Supreme Court of Kenya has rejected Raila Odinga’s challenge to the presidential election result, essentially confirming Willian Ruto as the winner of the August 9 poll and the country’s president-elect.
The decision comes after last week’s hearing of the petitions led by opposition leader Raila Odinga challenging Deputy President William Ruto’s declaration as the winner of the August 9 presidential election.
While presenting the final verdict on the petition, the Chief Justice Martha Koome has said that no evidence 50%-plus-one threshold was met.
She says the Supreme Court has found that petitioners did not provide a watertight case for the nullification of results on the basis that the 50%-plus-one constitutional threshold for an outright win was not met.
In their verdict therefore, the seven judges have unanimously confirmed that William Ruto did get more than 50% plus one votes.
The seven judges of the court retreated on Friday to consider their judgment after concluding days of hearing of consolidated petitions.
The electoral commission declared Ruto the winner and the president-elect after garnering 7.1 million votes against Odinga’s 6.9 million votes.
Odinga disputed the outcome citing irregularities and urged the court to annul the results. According to analysts, today’s decision offers an opportunity to reform the country’s electoral laws.
