Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld results declaring William Ruto winner of last month’s presidential elections.
Ruto, 55, won with 50.49% of the vote against his rival Raila Odinga’s 48.85%, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced in August.
The announcement of the results then descended into chaos in an otherwise peaceful election process when four members of the electoral commission rejected them, declaring the tallying “opaque.”
Odinga, 77, also later disputed the results in the Supreme Court alleging that hackers had accessed the electoral body’s website, deducted his votes and added them to Ruto’s, among other claims of irregularities.
His party, the Azimio La Umoja (Aspiration to Unite) coalition, claimed it had enough evidence in the petition to prove misconduct by the electoral commission after the August 9 election.
However, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected his claims and decided the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) held a credible election last month.
“We’re satisfied that the IEBC carried out the verification, tallying and declaration of results in accordance with the constitution,” the ruling says in part.
Chief Justice Martha Koome said the court found no evidence of tampering of results via hacking and that the “IEBC carried out the verification, tallying, and declaration of results in accordance with the provided constitutional law.”
The court also dismissed claims of ballot stuffing, voter suppression and Koome said the court had been sent “on a wild goose chase” investigating some of the laundry list of grievances presented by Odinga and his legal team.
Reacting to the decision, Kenya’s new President-elect Williams Ruto – a devout Christian – posted Bible verse “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” — Mark 10:27.”
He later said that he welcomed the confirmation of his win “with tremendous humility,” at a press conference outside his residence on Monday.
Odinga said his team “respect the opinion of the court although we vehemently disagree with their decision today,” in a statement he posted to his Twitter shortly after the court announced the verdict.
Source: CNN
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