SUPREME COURT JUSTICES
The Supreme Court of Kenya gas upholded President elect William Ruto’s win on August 9
The unanimous verdict by the seven Supreme Court judges was delivered on Monday noon following Odinga’s consolidated petition seeking to overturn Ruto’s victory on claims that the IEBC manipulated the votes to favour him.
According to the Supreme Court ruling, William Ruto obtained 25% of the votes cast in at least 24 counties and met the constitutional requirement of receiving 50% plus one of the total legitimate votes cast.
“The presidential election number E005 of 2022 as consolidated with presidential election petition numbers E001, 2,3,4 7 and 8 of 2022 are hereby dismissed,” CJ Martha Koome stated.
“As a consequence, we declare the election of the first respondent as president-elect to be valid under Article143 of the constitution.” She added.
Additionally, the seven-judge panel ruled that the IEBC verified and counted the ballots properly before declaring the results.
“We take cognisance of the fact that the fourth, fifth sixth and seventh respondents actively participated in the verification and tallying exercise from the beginning until just before the declaration of results to nullify an election,” said Martha Koome.
The court further rejected Raila Odinga’s claims that the forms 34A on the Commission’s website were different from those sent from the polling places.
Judges also ruled that there was no voter suppression a result of the postponement of the polls in the counties of Kakamega and Mombasa, Kitui Rural, Kacheliba Rongai, and Pokot South Constituencies, and as a result, the results of the presidential election were unaffected.
The supreme court also decided that the anomalies between the presidential votes and those cast in other elective seats were accounted for with IEBC indicating that inmates and Kenyans in the diaspora only voted for the head of state.
The Supreme court also sided with Chebukati and the IEBC, concluding that the technology used during the exercise met the requirements for accuracy and verifiability in terms of verifiability, security, and transparency.
Also Read: President Uhuru Breaks Silence After Supreme Court Upholded William Ruto’s Win
