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Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday confirmed the election of former Vice President William Ruto as the country’s new president. He was up against Raila Odinga, a historical figure in Kenyan politics.
With Florence Morice, RFI correspondent in Nairobi
After several days of hearings, the judges of the Supreme Court of Kenya decided on Monday, September 5, to confirm the victory of William Ruto in the presidential elections. The verdict was unambiguous and was issued on Monday by the Supreme Court of Kenya, a respected institution in the country that had decided in 2017 to annul the presidential elections.
All the arguments presented by the Odinga camp were rejected, some for lack of evidence according to the Court, others for considering that the reported irregularities were not of sufficient magnitude to affect the final result. “This is a unanimous decision. The appeals are dismissed. Accordingly, we declare the first defendant (William Ruto) President-elect,” Chief Justice Martha Koome said.
The Chief Justice said, for example, that there was no credible evidence that the electoral commission’s servers had been hacked or that there was a conspiracy to falsify the results forms, as the Odinga camp had claimed.
Raila Odinga “strongly disapproves” of the decision
On several occasions, the president of the Court also used quite harsh words to describe some resources, referring to “sensationalist accusations based on rumours”. He also referred to the four stewards who had dissented just before the announcement of the results as “an unexpected drama” and said that they had not provided any evidence for their accusations and that it was not possible to “subject the will of the Kenyan people to the antics of the election commission.
In a statement, Raila Odinga confirms that she respects the “opinion” of the court. “We have always defended the rule of law and the Constitution,” the statement said. But Raila Odinga says he “strongly disapproves” of the decision. He goes on to say that his team would have provided the court with convincing arguments and calls it “incredible” that all the points raised by the appeals have been rejected. He even criticized the Court for having “exaggerated” the terms he used to refute his allegations.
Rutto is expected to address the nation shortly. Under the Kenyan constitution, he is expected to be sworn in on September 13.
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