The Supreme Court of Kenya confirmed Monday, September 5 the election of William Ruto as president, rejecting the appeals filed by Raila Odinga, a historic figure in Kenyan politics who had denounced fraud.
“It’s a unanimous decision” Supreme Court President Martha Koome said. The highest court upheld results announced August 15 by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEBC), which declared incumbent Vice President William Ruto the winner of one of the tightest polls in Kenya’s history, with around 233 000 votes in advance (50.49% against 48.85%) over Raila Odinga.
Raila Odinga, who had received the support of incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta and his powerful Jubilee party, had cried fraud and appealed to the Supreme Court, making this legal battle “a fight for democracy and good governance” It front of “corruption cartels”.
This political veteran, who challenged the results of the last three presidential elections, did not obtain the cancellation of the ballot, as was the case in 2017 after a decision – unprecedented in Africa – of the Supreme Court. He announced “respect” the verdict, even if it “vehemently disagree”.
We have always stood for the rule of law and the constitution.
In this regard, we respect the opinion of the court although we vehemently disagree with their decision today. pic.twitter.com/WfOQrtsnpe
—Raila Odinga (@RailaOdinga) September 5, 2022
The seven judges considered that “the irregularities reported were not of sufficient magnitude to affect the final results of the presidential election”, said Martha Koome. The Odinga camp claimed in particular that the IEBC servers had been hacked to introduce falsified results forms.
But “no credible evidence has been presented to prove that anyone accessed” to the IEBC portal “to intercept, retain or temporarily store forms” results,” said Martha Koome.