The hearing on whether Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta will serve his second and final term in office begins at the Supreme Court of Kenya on Tuesday.
Kenya has held two presidential elections in the last three months after the opposition successfully petitioned the court to nullify his August 8th victory.
Kenyatta won the repeat polls with 98.3% of the votes cast.
He now faces a new challenge in court after a former Member of Parliament and two human rights activists petitioned the court to invalidate the election results.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga withdrew his candidature from the repeat elections over claims that the electoral commission was biased.
Odinga did not file a petition against Kenyatta’s October victory.
The Supreme Court will be seeking to answer whether the electoral commission should have ordered political parties to conduct fresh nominations and whether the withdrawal of one candidate should lead to the cancellation of the whole election.
The petitioners also want the elections nullified on the grounds that there was widespread violence and intimidation of voters that puts the integrity of the October polls to question.
The electoral commission however says that it postponed elections in 25 constituencies in the opposition stronghold due threats to its staff and inaccessible polling stations.
Some legal experts argue this time the public interest will likely influence the final ruling.
Lawyer Mwangi Kigotho says: “If for example they were to find that because elections were not held in each every constituency and on that basis they annul elections, then of course what will stop politicians in future on sensing that you might lose you disrupt elections in those other regions and ensure that no ballots are cast.”
Commission Chairperson Wafula Chebukati in his response says the elections were conducted in conformity with the law.
In a response filed on Sunday, President Kenyatta said despite violence and intimidation in some parts of the country, his re-election met the legal threshold of free and fair elections.
Opinion is divided on what to expect of the highest court in the land.
