Photo: VP William Ruto, Kenya’s president-elect
The Supreme Court of Kenya on Monday upheld the election of vice president William Ruto as the country’s president-elect.
The apex court dismissed a petition challenging Ruto’s victory in the recently conducted poll, paving the way for his swearing-in next week in line with the country’s constitution.
Delivering judgment, a seven-man judges bench unanimously agreed that Ruto met the constitutional threshold to be declared the east African nation’s fifth president.
The landmark judgment put to rest a week-long legal battle with his closest rival in the Aug. 9, presidential election, Raila Odinga.
Odinga had alleged in his suit against Ruto that a team working for Ruto hacked into the commission’s system and replaced genuine pictures of polling station result forms with fake ones increasing Ruto’s share.
“The evidence that has been presented by the petitioner shows a well-orchestrated and fraudulent scheme that was executed with military precision,” Odinga’s lawyer, Philip Murgor had alleged.
Four out of seven election commissioners had also disowned the result announced by the commission chairman, saying the tallying had been opaque
