Kenya election 2022: Supreme Court confirms William Ruto’s victory against Raila Odinga
Kenya’s Supreme Court has ruled that William Ruto was properly elected president, dismissing several petitions seeking to annul the result of the 9 August election. His rival, Raila Odinga, and others had alleged that massive fraud, including tampering with results forms, had taken place. Mr Ruto garnered 50.5% of the vote in the closely fought election. The 55-year-old will be sworn in as the country’s fifth president next week.
The eight petitions challenging the elections were all dismissed. The court found some were based on forged documents and “sensational information”, Chief Justice Martha Koome said in a unanimous decision on behalf of the seven judges. No credible evidence that the electronic voting transmission system had been tampered with by “a middle man” was presented, she said. Ms Koome also said that Mr Ruto had met the constitutional threshold of garnering 50%+1 of votes cast. The ruling ends a protracted election dispute that started after polls closed last month. Mr Odinga’s team had used the dissent of four of the seven electoral commissioners – who disowned the poll results because they had fallen out with the chairman – to bolster his case.(BBC)…[+]