In the just concluded Kenya Presidential election where William Ruto 55, emerged winner, opposition leader, Raila Odinga 77, has on Monday filed a petition to the country’s Supreme court, challenging the result of the August 9 election.
In the petition, Odinga prays the court on several grounds to nullify the votes outcome and it includes dissimilarity between the turnout figures and the result, and failure by the commission to tally ballots from 27 constituencies as required by law.
The petition reads partly, “The final result… was therefore not complete, accurate, verifiable or accountable and cannot be the basis for a valid and legitimate declaration.”
Odinga, who ran on the feathers of President Uhuru Kenyatta and the ruling party, rejected the outcome of the poll, tagging it a “travesty.”
According to a member of his legal team, Odibgw filed a physical copy of the petition with barely an hour to go before the court’s 2 pm (1100 GMT) deadline for accepting the case and an online copy was filed earlier in the day.
Recall that earlier last week the election commissioner in Kenya declared Deputy President William Ruto as winner, though he won the election by a slim margin. However, four out of seven election commissioners disagreed, saying the results tallying lacked transparency.
The case will be heard by the seven-member Supreme Court and presided over by Kenya’s first female chief justice, Martha Koome, who was appointed last year by President Kenyatta.
The court will next conduct a status conference with all parties to define the hearing schedule and ground rules. The constitution requires judges to issue their decision within 14 days of the lawsuit being filed.