MON, 05 SEPT, 2022-theGBJournal| Kenya’s Supreme Court today unanimously upheld William Ruto’s August 9, 2022 presidential election win and rejected all arguments of fraud brought by main opposition challenger Raila Odinga, age 77.
Martha Odinga, Odinga’s running mate says she disagrees with the verdict in a tweet shortly after the verdict was pronounced.
‘’The Court has spoken. I respect but disagree with the findings,’’ she tweeted.
Chief Justice Martha Koome read the verdict of the court which finds that the petitioners did not provide a watertight case for the nullification of the results on the basis that the 50%-plus-one constitutional threshold for an outright win was not met.
The Supreme Court concluded that Ruto did get more than 50% plus one votes.
The Judges also before their ruling took cognizance of the argument of four electoral commissioners who disputed the final results and noted their participation in earlier verifications and tallying of the results.
The Chief Justice noted that the four commissioners did not produce any document showing the result was compromised and they did not explain why they took part in a verification process which they then said was ‘’opaque.’’
Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati on August 15, 2022 declared William Ruto President-elect of the East African country.
Ruto won 7,176,141 or 50.49% of votes to beat closest rival, veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga who scored 6, 942,930 votes. In all 14 of the 20 million registered voters in Kenya voted.
Ruto will be sworn in next Tuesday as prescribed by the constitution.
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