Kenyan Supreme Court affirms Vice President William Ruto’s victory
by Ebor Cletus Ralph Jr
The Kenyan Supreme Court dismissed petitions filed by former prime minister Raila Odinga calling for the election results to be overturned on Monday, upholding the win of Vice President William Ruto in the presidential election on August 9.
Odinga, the candidate for the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition, based his case on allegations of widespread fraud, including the altering of results forms.
The court claimed that after reaching its decision, it discovered that Odinga’s petition and several others from other candidates were founded on forged documents and “sensational information.”
The East African country’s Chief Justice, Martha Koome, said in a unanimous decision on behalf of the seven judges that there was no credible evidence that the electronic voting transmission system was tampered with by the electoral body to favour Ruto as claimed by the petitions.
She said Ruto had met the constitutional threshold of garnering 50%+1 of votes cast and with the verdict, he will be sworn in as Kenya’s fifth President next week.