August 22, (THEWILL) – Raila Odinga, who came second in Kenya’s presidential election, has filed a suit in court challenging the result, his lawyers have said.
THEWILL had reported that Keny’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared William Ruto winner of the presidential election.
“in accordance with the Constitution and the law, I the chairperson of IEBC hereby declare that Ruto William Samoei has been duly elected as the President of the Republic of Kenya under the provision of Article 138 of the Constitution of the Presidential election held on August 9, 2022″, Wafula Chebukati, chairman of the IEBC, had declared.
Ruto had polled 7,176,141 votes, representing 50.07 percent of the total votes cast to beat Odinga’s 48.8 per cent. He also secured the minimum 25 per cent of votes in 39 counties.
According to the electoral Commission, Odinga polled 48.8 per cent of the vote, losing to William Ruto’s 50.5 per cent.
While four of the seven electoral commissioners refused to endorse the outcome alleging that the way the final results were tallied was “opaque”, Odinga had described the whole election process as “a rape of democracy.”
Odinga, who argued that the voter turnout figure was manipulated, alleged that number was altered to show Ruto had crossed the 50%-plus-one-vote threshold needed to avoid a second-round run-off.
Odinga described the result as a “travesty” and asked that the election be declared “null and void.” This is the third time in a row that he has gone to court to get an outcome overturned.
In 2017, the veteran politician successfully challenged the result of that year’s presidential election, which he lost to Uhuru Kenyatta and the Supreme Court ordered a re-run. The case highlighted logistical issues in the way the results were collated.
This time the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) tried to make the results process as transparent as possible by publishing the polling station tallies as soon as they were available.
An independent Kenyan monitoring group said the IEBC’s final result was in line with its own projection.
A week ago, there were chaotic scenes at the national tallying centre moments before the final result of the 9 August poll was about to be read out.
Some of Odinga’s political allies stormed the stage and scuffles broke out. Two electoral commissioners were injured and four others left the compound to hold a press conference to denounce the outcome.
Nevertheless, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati proceeded with the announcement and handed Ruto the certificate confirming that he was the winner.
Last week, Ruto said he would respect the court process, which is part of the country’s electoral law.
About the Author
