Kenya: Supreme Court Orders Fresh Polls in an African First

The Supreme Court in Kenya has Friday nulified the results of the recently concluded Presidential elections in which the electoral body, IEBC declared the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta winner. The court has ruled that fresh elections be held within a period of 60 days.

Friday’s unprecedented judgement saw four judges of the Supreme Court bench rule in favour of opposition coalition NASA’s petition challenging the results, while two other judges ruled against.

Kenya’s Chief Justice David Maraga said in his ruling; “The Presidential election was not conducted in accordance to the Constitution.The results are null and void. We were satisfied that the election was not conducted as the constitution dictates.”

The Chief Justice David Maraga said that the IEBC failed, neglected and refused to conduct the election in keeping with laws

But he noted that the Court found no evidence of misconduct on the part of the third respondent who is President Uhuru Kenyatta.

On the contrary, the two Justices; Jackton Ojwang’ and Lucy Ndung’u who dissented with the ruling claimed there was no substantive evidence to prove that the election was not properly conducted. Similarly, lawyers representing the third respondent (Uhuru Kenyatta) had previously asked court to dismiss the petition saying it was based on hearsay but no evidence.

Kenya’s main opposition leader Raila Odinga and his National Super Alliance (NASA) filed a petition to the Supreme Court disputing the outcomes of the August 8 election. Odinga had rejected the results long before the final announcement by IEBC was made claiming the servers were hacked and results tampered with to favor his rival Kenyatta.

At first, NASA had refused to follow the judicial process but would later budge, following numerous calls from the international community and election observers.

Kenya is the first African country to overturn a Presidential Election and the third in the world after Maldives and Austria.

Twitter: @SarahKagingo