The decision of Kenya’s highest court to uphold William Ruto’s election as the country’s fifth president was handed out on Monday. After deliberation, all seven members of the bench of the supreme court came to the same conclusion.
The court considered petitions submitted by several parties who disagreed with Ruto’s victory. His opponent in the election that just took place, Raila Odinga, was the first petitioner in this court action. The judges delivered their decisions regarding the nine problems that had been brought to their attention as requiring a decision.
Why Raila’s Petition Was Dismissed
On Monday, the Court rejected Raila Odinga’s bid for the presidency as a candidate for the Azimio la Umoja One party in Kenya, saying that he had not presented enough evidence to support his claim.
The seven-judge court, led by Chief Justice Martha Koome, issued a unanimous ruling saying that Raila and six other petitioners had made serious claims that altered the tabulation of election results, but that these anomalies were insufficient to change the outcome of the election.
All nine challenges to President-elect William Ruto’s victory were rejected by the court, confirming his election. The court ruled that Raila’s lawyers made no sense when they argued that Ruto did not have the required majority of votes.
The legal team representing Raila claimed that the margin of error of 0.01 percent in the final total of the presidential vote resulted in 142,000 ballots that could not be accounted for.
Chief Justice Martha Koome stated that after much deliberation, the court had concluded that the notion was “not mathematically solid” and that the IEBC chairperson had correctly rounded numbers.
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