The Supreme Court of Kenya has confirmed the election of William Ruto as President of Kenya, nullifying the petitions brought before it by Raila Oding
The Supreme Court of Kenya has confirmed the election of William Ruto as President of Kenya, nullifying the petitions brought before it by Raila Odinga.
The Monday morning judgement put to a close disputes over the August 8 election.
In a two-hour long unanimous decision read by Justice Martha Koone, the Chief Justice of Kenya, the court dismissed all petitions brought against the result.
Koone said: “The presidential election petition number e005 of the year 2022 consolidated as the presidential election petition numbers e001,2 3,4,7 and 8 of 2022 are hereby dismissed. As a consequence we declare the election of the first defendant as president elect.”
The court emphasized that the decision was in the public interest and ordered that each party should bear its own cost.
Presidential elections was held in the East African country on Tuesday, 9 August. The results were released a week later, on Monday 15 September with Ruto, current Vice President and candidate of United Democratic Alliance declared winner.
According to the country’s electoral commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati, Ruto polled 50.5 percent of the votes to beat his closest challenger and opposition leader, Ralis Odinga, a former Prime Minister and candidate of Orange Democratic Party, who polled 48.8 percent.
The declaration triggered drama and chaos in some quarters. Four out of the seven members of the electoral body disagreed with the results describing it as opaque.
“We cannot take ownership of the result that is going to be announced because of the opaque nature of this last phase of the general election,” said Juliana Cherera, the vice-chairperson of IEBC.
“We are going to give a comprehensive statement… and again we urge Kenyans to keep calm,” she said.
Within a few days several aggrieved persons and parties approached the Supreme Court to challenge the election results. The court had two weeks to make final declaration on the results.
Nine petitions and 24 interlocutory applications were brought before it. Seven of the petitions were consolidated as they looked similar, while the remaining two were struck out for lacking merit.
The 55-year-old Ruto will be sworn in as the country’s fifth president next week.
