Kenya’s Supreme Court upholds Ruto’s win in presidential election

The decision was delivered by Martha Koome, chair of the seven-member Supreme Courtroom on Monday.

Kenya's former Deputy President William Ruto reacts after being declared the winner of Kenya's presidential election on the IEBC Nationwide Tallying Centre on the Bomas of Kenya, in Nairobi, Kenya August 15, 2022 [Thomas Mukoya/Reuters]

Kenya’s Supreme Courtroom has upheld the victory of former Deputy President William Ruto within the August 9 presidential election, after ruling on a lot of petitions introduced by his closest challenger Raila Odinga.

The unanimous verdict was delivered on Monday by Martha Koome, the chair of the seven-member courtroom.

“We declare the election of the president-elect to be legitimate,” she stated.

On August 15, Ruto had been declared the winner of the poll by Wafula Chebukati, the top of the Unbiased Electoral and Boundaries Fee (IEBC) with 50.4 p.c  of the vote to Odinga’s 48.8 p.c.

In a dramatic cut up simply earlier than the announcement of the outcomes, 4 of the seven commissioners disowned the outcome.

However Koome stated that “other than their eleventh-hour denunciation of the verification course of …the 4 commissioners haven't proven any proof that the election was compromised”.

She additionally stated the courtroom discovered no proof that the outcomes had been tampered through hacking of the IEBC servers, as was alleged by Odinga’s camp.

The choice paves the way in which for Ruto, 55, to be sworn in as Kenya’s fifth president within the coming days.

Ruto was elected in 2013 and 2017 alongside outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, as his deputy. However the duo fell out in 2018 after an sudden truce between the president and his erstwhile archrival Odinga.