Raila Odinga who is the veteran opposition and first runner-up in the recently concluded Kenyan presidential elections has headed to the Kenyan Supreme Court on Monday to openly challenge the results of this month’s election that declared Deputy President William Ruto as the winner.
In the petition, Odinga had prayed the court to nullify all the results of the polls on several grounds, including on ground of a mismatch between the turnout figures and the result, and failure by the electoral commission to tally ballots from 27 constituencies as required by law.
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“The final result… was therefore not complete, accurate, verifiable or accountable and cannot be the basis for a valid and legitimate declaration,” the petition said.
Last week, the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Wafula Chebukati declared Ruto the winner with 50.49% of the vote against Odinga’s 48.5%.
However, four out of seven election commissioners who had been led by the deputy chairperson, Juliana Cherera had also come out to oppose the results, while reiterating that the tallying of results had not been transparent.
Odinga had also declared the results “null and afford” and said they were a “travesty” but said he would settle the dispute in court and urged supporters to remain peaceful.
This would be Odinga’s fifth trial at the presidency and he had also blamed several previous losses on rigging. Those disputes triggered violence that claimed more than 100 lives in 2017 and more than 1,200 lives in 2007.
In 2017, the Supreme Court overturned the election result and ordered a re-run, which Odinga boycotted, saying he had no faith in the election commission. This time, Odinga’s candidacy was endorsed by President Uhuru Kenyatta after falling out with Ruto after the last election.
The case will be heard by the seven-member Supreme Court and presided over by Martha Koome, Kenya’s first female chief justice, who was appointed by Kenyatta last year.
