Dhe loser in Kenya’s presidential election, Raila Odinga, has challenged the result before the Supreme Court, as announced. As reported by the Kenyan media, a corresponding application was initially submitted online on Monday, with the physical documents following later. The Daily Nation newspaper tweeted a photo of a truck allegedly bringing evidence of the petition to court. “We are confident that we have found good arguments and will win,” said a lawyer from Odinga’s team.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEBC) declared Vice President William Ruto the winner last week by a narrow margin of 1.64 percentage points. During the announcement, four out of seven members of the commission had left the hall in protest. They accuse the commission chairman, Wafula Chebukati, of having determined the result in “opaque” ways. Odinga called it “null and void” because it does not have the support of the full commission. Legal experts have differed on this issue.
Odinga’s fifth candidacy
Odinga, 77, was supported in these elections by incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta, who had fallen out with his deputy Ruto a few years ago. For Odinga it was already the fifth candidacy for the presidency. In the past, too, after several defeats, he had complained about fraud and electoral manipulation. In 2017, he also went to the Supreme Court to challenge the outcome. The court annulled the presidential election due to irregularities and scheduled a rerun. This was won by Kenyatta, with Odinga boycotting the re-election. In his own words, he had lost confidence in the Independent Electoral Commission. Instead, he had himself unofficially sworn in as “People’s President” in his own ceremony. The 2007 elections, which were also controversial, triggered serious unrest in which more than 1,200 people died.
This year the election campaign and the election were peaceful. After the election results were announced, there were protests in some of Odinga’s strongholds. Around 14 million Kenyans elected the president, members of the National Assembly and Senate, governors and members of 47 district assemblies. The seven justices of the Supreme Court have 14 days to make a decision. If Odinga’s application is successful, the presidential election will be repeated.
