Kenya’s SC orders rerun of disputed presidential election

“You can not be asked to nullify a presidential election on the basis of allegations, on the basis of suspicion”.

Following the Supreme Court decision, supporters of Odinga have taken to the streets to celebrate.

It is the first time a Kenyan court has nullified an election result. “This is a precedent-setting ruling”.

Odinga claimed the election was rigged in favor of Kenyatta through hacking and manipulation of the electronic vote-counting system.

The court did not place blame on Kenyatta or his party.

Odinga’s lawyer, however, had alleged that some 5 million votes were marred by discrepancies and said that the forms used to record results lacked key security features such as watermarks and the necessary stamps and signatures. The commission later said it will shuffle some staff and ensure any members who violated the law will be brought to justice.

Odinga called for the election commission to be disbanded.

Announcing the decision, Chief Justice David Maraga argued that the election had “not been conducted in accordance with the constitution…” Global election observers had said they saw no interference with the vote.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has said since the day of the elections that the Electoral Commission servers were hacked during the process, giving an advantage to Kenyatta. “Let us go back to the people, and let them decide”, Mr Kenyatta said.

Chairman of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Wafula Chebukati said he would not resign despite the invalidation of the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta that he supervised.

Kenya has seen widespread unrest since the election, and human rights groups said at least 24 people had died at the hands of police since the vote, ITV News reported.

The announcement drew cheers from opposition supporters both inside and outside the courtroom.

“Thank you, Jesus!” one woman shouted.

This is also a setback for the worldwide, and some local, election observers, who profusely praised the election as free, fair and credible.

It said these issues would be elaborated on in the detailed judgment of the court, which is to be published within 21 days.

The disputed 2007 election led to politically-motivated ethnic violence in which over 1,100 people were killed.