Kenya election petition: Ruto vows to respect court ruling

By AFP

William Ruto, who was declared winner of Kenya’s presidential election in August, said Sunday he would respect the Supreme Court’s decision expected Monday confirming or invalidating the results of the vote, disputed by his rival Raila Odinga.

Ruto, the outgoing vice president, was proclaimed the victor by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEBC) with about 233,000 votes (50.49 percent to 48.85 percent) ahead of Odinga, a veteran opposition figure backed this year by incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta and his Jubilee party.

But Odinga has rejected the outcome of the August 9 vote and filed a petition at the top court alleging fraud in the vote tallying process.

He said the IEBC’s servers had been hacked to enter falsified results and that about 140,000 votes had not been counted.