Kenya: Odinga Expected to File Suit Challenging President-Elect Ruto’s Victory

Nairobiu — Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga is set to file a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking to nullify the victory handed to President-Elect William Ruto following the August 9 vote.

Ruto was declared president-elect on Monday last week, scraping past Odinga with a margin of less than two percentage points.

The outcome has been challenged not only by Odinga’s camp but also, in a bizarre twist, by four out of seven commissioners at the election body that oversaw the vote.

The veteran opposition leader has now been defeated in all five presidential votes he has contested, even though this year he ran with the backing of outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta and the weight of the ruling party behind him.

The aftermath of this year’s court decision is being keenly watched as a test of democratic maturity in East Africa’s richest economy.

Odinga or any other challenger has a deadline for Monday to file a petition at the Supreme Court.

The seven-judge tribunal will then have 14 days to issue a ruling. If it orders an annulment, a new vote must be held within 60 days.

The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Presidential candidate believes the Supreme Court will nullify the victory handed to Ruto who was declared winner with 7.1 million against his 6.9 million.

President-elect Ruto on his part has stated that he ‘will engage’ with any potential court challenge to his victory.

Ruto asserted he was forging ahead with creating an administration, promising that no Kenyan would be excluded, whatever their political or ethnic affiliation.

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