Odinga files challenge to Ruto win in Supreme Court

Kenyan politician Raila Odinga has this morning filed a petition to contest the results of the presidential election at the highest court after rejecting Deputy President William Ruto’s victory in the 9 August election.

According to results announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Mr Ruto received 7,176,141 (50.49 percent) of the votes, narrowly beating his rival, Mr Raila Odinga, who managed 6,942,930, votes (48.85 percent).

Mr Raila had until 14:00 local time (13:00GMT) to file the petition at the Supreme Court and any Kenyan who was dissatisfied with the results of the presidential election could also file a petition.

Mr Odinga’s case is bolstered by the fact that four of the seven electoral commissioners – including Vice-chairperson Juliana Cherera – took the extraordinary step of rejecting the result.

In 2017 Kenya’s Supreme Court annulled the presidential election results citing irregularities and ordered a new one within 60 days.

Then incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta went ahead to win the rerun after Mr Odinga boycotted the election.

Source: BBC