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Supreme Court Receives A Total Of 8 Petitions Challenging Ruto’s Win

SK 2 years ago 2 min read

The hurry at the Supreme Court registry in Forodha House, Nairobi, to beat the deadline for presidential petitions nearly descended into chaos.

Raila Odinga, a candidate for president in the Azimio district, and Martha Karua, his running mate, filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court disputing the election of William Ruto as the winner on August 9.

In a lawsuit against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, its chairman Wafula Chebukati, commissioners, and William Ruto, Raila and Karua have requested the court to declare the presidential election results declared on August 15 invalid.

The results of the presidential election as released by the IEBC were also rejected in a separate petition by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah, who claimed that no contender had met the constitutional requirement of 50 percent plus one.

PThe final results, according to Omtatah, were not calculated using the whole number of votes cast in their entirety and did not account for almost 140, 028 ballots, which would have altered the outcome and particularly the constitutional 50 percent +1 criterion.

All candidates were below the 50% threshold according to the math in the petition submitted by the Busia Senator, with Raila Odinga receiving 48.3 percent and William Ruto receiving 49.9 percent.

Khelef Khalifa, a well-known public interest lawyer, has filed a case with the Supreme Court asking for the annulment of the presidential election results.

Khalifa played a significant role in the petition filed in the 2017 presidential election that led to the Supreme Court annulling the results.

He now wants the Supreme Court to use the same legal leverage to challenge the results of this year’s election, which he argues were marked by significant irregularities.

Khalifa further requests that the court order an audit of all electoral technologies used in the august election and access to the KIEMS kits for all petitioners, stating that infiltration impacted the election’s credibility.

Gospel musician Reuben Kigame has also petitioned the highest court to nullify the nomination and clearance of the four presidential candidates after being denied permission to run for office.

John Njoroge Kamau, a voter, filed the first petition of the day asking the courts to rule on whether the IEBC chairman erred in excluding other commissioners from the final tally.
Additionally, he requested that the seven-judge panel rule that the IEBC chair had engaged in election-related irregularities and be disqualified from acting as the nation’s returning officer for future elections.

A lobbying group called Youth Advocacy Africa also offered prayers at the registry, calling for the annulment of the presidential election on the basis of proof that poll results had been manipulated to guarantee a candidate met the 50 percent plus one requirement.

Another group that filed a petition at the supreme court comprised of Juliah Nyokabi Chege, Joseph Mutua Ndonga and Simon Mwaura Njenga and another by a voter named David Kariuki Ngari.