NAIROBI, Sept 5 (Reuters) – Kenya’s Supreme Court unanimously upheld the August 9 presidential election on Monday and the victory of incumbent Vice-President William Ruto, its president, Martha Koome, announced on Monday.
The Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss the appeal of defeated opposition candidate Raila Odinga is final.
William Ruto was declared the winner of the Kenyan presidential election by a narrow margin in mid-August by the president of the electoral commission, despite the divisions within this body, four of the seven members of which disavowed the announced result.
Defeated opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who was running for president for the fifth time and enjoyed the support of outgoing head of state Uhuru Kenyatta, denounced massive fraud and seized the Supreme Court, while calling on his supporters quiet.
Post-election violence left nearly a hundred dead in 2017, during the previous presidential election.
The Supreme Court of Kenya then annulled the results of the summer election which saw the victory of outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta against opponent Raila Odinga, citing fraud and irregularities.
Uhuru Kenyatta emerged victorious from a second ballot organized in the autumn and boycotted by Raila Odinga.
(Report George Obulutsa, James Macharia Chege and Aaron Ross; French version Myriam Rivet, told by Sophie Louet)